The Bachelor
by crazygirl18
Summary: Natsume never wanted to be the Bachelor. Mikan never wanted to be a contestant of that show. But both sides were forced to join. After hurting each other in the past, both are surprised to find out that they are in the same reality show.
1. The Rose

**AN: **Series does not belong to me.

I do not own the Bachelor series nor created it.

Based on the reality show The Bachelor

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**The Bachelor**

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**Prologue **

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They say that when love comes, it just hits us. Whether were outside or inside, schools or malls. The more we hide from it, the more it seeks us. The more we deny it, the more it haunts us. Sometimes, love is one deadly virus, perhaps even the deadliest because sometimes there isn't a cure or antidote to fix a broken heart. Indeed, love has a bad side effect and that is heartbreak.

Every couple has its own love story.. A story which when they grow old they would love to tell their children or their grandchildren. A story that would stick into their hearts and minds that the younger generation would wish to have the same love story their parents or grandparents had.

I did.

My mother, would tell me everyday when I was young, how she meet father. She would drift into her own world while telling me their love story. Mother had met father when they were in elementary. She told me that it wasn't easy loving father but despite the heartache she experienced because of him, it was worth it in the end.

Mother said when we love, it should be true.

I love hearing mother's version of their love story and I love father's version. My mother had the typical romantic story while father was direct to the point minus the cheesy parts.

My mother said that when the time comes and it's my turn to have my own love story and get hit by the love virus, I should get ready for a big surprise. Because sometimes not all love stories end with happy endings.

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**Chapter One: **The Rose

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**Mikan**

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"No."

I threw my bag on my bed and tried to vision that I had the capability of ignoring my best friend since kindergarten. I had just returned from work and was prepared to eat dinner when my mom said I had a visitor in my bedroom.

"Yes you are." Hotaru stubbornly said.

I gave a loud frustrated sigh while massaging my forehead. Sometimes Hotaru could be stubborn as bull better yet like a huge rock. She told me that if someone was to befriend me, they'd lose their patience. But befriending Hotaru could make you crazy. It was a miracle that up to now we were still best of friends. We don't have that many pictures together or go on trips and explore new countries. We didn't do those things. I wanted too, but Hotaru was anti-social. Period.

Our classmates and schoolmates were even surprised that we were friends. I would happily announce who my best friend is, while Hotaru would deny I was her best friend. But every morning, she'd passed by my house and we'd always go to school together. I had imagined that after High school, we'd separated ways. Hotaru's family was known in the world of technology and medicine. Her mother's sides were great doctors, while her father's sides were great inventors. Hotaru inherited the genes of her father while her older brother Subaru was starting to become a known doctor in the Japan. But when I started college, I was shocked to find her waiting outside and scolding me that I'd be late on my first day at college.

At college, we took different courses. She took Business Management while I took Culinary Arts. I loved the smell of baking. The smell of cinnamon from a newly baked cinnamon bread or the smell of an apple pie. Those were my drugs. If I was stressed out or could not think right, I would start to bake. Any types of cakes were easy to make because at a young age my mother taught me. Mother and father were very proud that I had graduated with top honors, a miracle which Hotaru murmured.

After college that's when everything changed.

Dad and mom decided a week after my graduation from college, that we were moving to the country side were mother's father, Grandpa Seiji lived. I was sad at first but I understood because Grandpa was old and living alone. Besides, I love Grandpa's place. It was so peaceful and the people were very friendly.

Hotaru took the news very well. She did the regular thing of just nodding and saying her famous line: _So what? Why should I care?_

When I first met Hotaru, I was really shocked on how she would say hurtful words and not seem to care about it. But then one day, I became immune to all her hurtful words because I knew she really didn't mean it. Actually, I would faint if she did say something nice everyday. It wasn't as if she never did say something nice, but when she did…you'd be shocked.

Hotaru would visit me from time to time whenever her schedule allowed her too. She became the first youngest editor for an IT magazine called _The Gadgets_ and a famous inventor that helped Japan explore outer space. In other words, she was famous.

I on the other hand, didn't bother to go back to the city. I had come to love the peaceful scenery. The gentle breeze in the morning, the stars that shined at night and the smell of clean air made me at ease. Grandpa passed away three years after we moved and then dad died a year after. He caught pneumonia one rainy night and was never able to wake up again.

It was very hard for me and mom because we loved them both and wished that they were here with us. I miss my dad but not as much as my mom misses him. Everyday, mom would visit the grave of the two men she ever loved. I was glad that mom didn't dwell in her sorrow but it took time for her to really smile and laugh again.

I am thankful that before these two men that we loved passed away, they were able to see me put up a small bakery shop. Grandpa proudly told everyone he knew that I was the only one that could make the best Howalon in the world. Father said that the man who'd I someday marry would be the luckiest man on earth to have me.

Hotaru said the man I'd marry would end up broke.

When Hotaru found out about me putting up a bakery shop, she told me that she wanted to help me. I said if she planned to expand the business, I didn't want the credit or to even be mentioned. All I wanted was a peaceful life. Hotaru grudgingly agreed and said that what ever profit they earned, she'd send me my earnings.

"Mikan Sakura, I will be expecting you at that _Hotel_ exactly 8:00pm, _sharp_." Hotaru said in a warning voice. "You promised me that you'd repay me _in any way._"

"Yeah! But that was in high school!" I said bitterly. I should have known something bad was about to happen when I found her in my room wearing her executive office uniform that was tailored especially for her by _Valentino_

"You forget that I don't forget debt, _no matter how old they are._ I will collect." Hotaru simply said.

How she said it made me shiver. It was if she was a female version of the Al Pacino in the Godfather or the Devil's Advocate. I rubbed my eyes and threw my hands in the air. "But a Reality Show?! And a show, were an arrogant guy who thinks he must be god's gift to women, will be picking one girl out of 25 girls to make her his wife."

"Why does it sound as if the girl would be a sacrificial lamb?" Hotaru drawled. "Look, you don't even know the guy."

"That's it!" I said exclaiming. "You want me to sacrifice my reputation! I don't even know the guy and you want me to join a maybe boorish guy."

Hotaru leaned on my door and crossed her arms. "Look idiot. It isn't like I want you in the show and stop thinking that the guy is _even _going to choose you. I just need someone I trust inside that reality show."

I sat down on my bed and looked at Hotaru…which was a wrong move. Because if I didn't look at Hotaru, I wouldn't be saying goodbye to my mother or to the kids who frequently visited the bakeshop and be getting into the car that would take me to Cesar's Hotel.

Hotaru convinced me after two hours saying my role was plain and simple in the reality show. I could not tell anyone that Hotaru convinced me to join the show. All I had to do was pretend to be a contestant and show interest with the Bachelor guy whenever the camera was on us. The reason for my deception was that before elimination night where the Bachelor would eliminate one girl, I was to tell him what the contestants would say behind his back. In other words, I was a spy.

Disgusting.

As if the Bachelor couldn't separate the bitches from the tolerable girls.

Men and their lack of brains.

I arrived at the Cesar's Hotel, an exclusive five star hotel, an hour late because of the bad traffic. I asked nice manager if he could point me to the room where Hotaru Imai was. I happen to notice that the Manager looked revealed when I said who I was. He pointed towards the Lounging area. Before I saw Hotaru, for a minute I thought I saw a very familiar person I haven't seen since High school. "Ruka…" I said softly but surprised. I decided not to follow the guy because the next thing that caught my eye was Hotaru who looked like she was ready to explode. The other guest or visitors around the area seemed to sense the black aura around her which must be the reason why no one dared to approach her or sat close by her. "Hotaru!" I shouted happily. Hotaru got up from her seat and I knew she wanted to strangle me badly. "It was traffic and it's raining. Not my fault." I said ahead.

Hotaru closed her eyes and I saw her clenched her fist. "Just go inside the ballroom." She crisply said.

"Can't I go and change? I'm a little bit wet" I complained pointing to my wet pants and my sort of wet blouse.

"NO!" Hotaru barked. "The show is about to begin in 2 minutes so I think you better go IN!"

"Fine." I muttered. I went towards the door that Hotaru was pointing out. I twisted the handle and entered –

"Wait!" Hotaru shouted.

I look back at her. "What?" I said smiling.

"I'm sorry." Hotaru quietly said.

I closed the door and gave her a confused look. "Why are you apologizing?" I asked suspiciously.

Hotaru just stared at me and then she shook her head. "I did this for your on good. Now get in the damn room." Hotaru said. I gave her a wary smile and finally entered the room.

"I hope you'd forgive me...Mikan." Hotaru stared at the door were her best friend had just entered. She then got the latest cell phone that Imai Company invented and called someone, she and Mikan both knew. "_Yes. Mikan Sakura just entered. I just hope this plan works."_

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When I entered the room I immediately noticed how many beautiful girls with perfect height and grace was inside this room. The girls outfit had one message, dress to impress. There were girls who were wearing shoes as if it represented the Titanic. Blouses that said look-I-have-cleavage. Skirts which I could not even say if it was even a mini skirt! They should have dressed in a bikini! Sheesh. These women are desperate to be chosen. The ballroom was really huge. The chandeliers were like sparkling crystals. Their were waiters left and right, handing out refreshments and food. Even the television crew who told us not to mind them and mingle as if there were no camera's around. Yeah right! I took a bread stick and munched on it. Pretend as if there were no cameras? You've got to be kidding. It was if there were hundreds of camera man following us. I was lucky that they decided not to focus on me, perhaps they thought I wasn't a contestant.

"Oh.My.God."

I slowly turned around because I knew that voice. There stood the girl who bullied me in elementary and became my sort of friend in High School. Sumire Shoda.

"Permy!" I squealed happily. "It's good to see you. You look so sophisticated. How are you? What have you been doing?"

Sumire chuckled. "It's good to see you too Mikan. I was surprised to find you here."

I smiled happily and hugged her again. It was good to see old friends again. She didn't seem to be the bossy type anymore. Plus, she was wearing a very simple but elegant black cocktail dress. Her black hair reached her shoulders in a curly way. "You really look beautiful Sumire."

"And your still the same." Sumire smiled. "You've decided to come to a party where the Bachelor will definitely take notice of you."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"Well, were all dressed in gowns just to impress the guy while your wearing faded jeans, you've simply braided your hair and your wearing a simple blue flower print blouse. Everything says simple about you."

I didn't know whether to laugh or be insulted. "I didn't have time to change. I was told that I'd be late." Sumire nodded in agreement and took a sip of champagne that was given to her by a waiter. "No thanks. May I have ice instead?" I said to the waiter who offered me a glass. "I'd end up humiliating myself if I started to drink that." I explained to Sumire who smiled at me.

"So, do you have any idea who the bachelor is?" Sumire asked as we headed to an unoccupied table.

We nodded and smiled at the other girls who smiled at our way and those who were like staring at me as if I was in the wrong room. "No. All I know it isn't an old man." I said laughing while sitting down.

Sumire chuckled along. "Many have been wondering who the Bachelor is. Most of the news says that he is really wealthy and handsome."

"Wow." I smiled at the waiter who had just given me my ice tea. "I'm surprised to find you here Sumire. I thought you and Koko were going strong." I asked taking a sip of the most refreshing ice tea ever. But when I looked at Sumire again, her smile was gone. "Did I say something wrong."

Sumire quickly shook her head and smiled. "Nothing, were not together anymore."

"Oh. Ok." I said and then putting my whole concentration in drinking my ice tea. I always say the dumbest thing.

"_Ladies may I have your intention. Welcome to the first ever reality show that will bring you girls one step close to a Cinderella dream. Where you may be the girl who this bachelor has been looking for. Meet your bachelor"_

When the host of the show came out I was prepared to shout with glee and shout his name. Ruka Nogi was the host! "It's Ruka!" I said excitedly at Sumire. I was about to stand up when the lights dimmed and out came a huge screen from the ceiling. I had no choice but to wait. I rolled my eyes when I heard the introduction about the bachelor being the heir of a famous company or how great he was and what credentials he had. The intro was like they were describing a god. I looked at Sumire who was watching it very carefully as if it was the most important thing to do. The other girls were shrieking with glee because it seemed they knew who the bachelor was. I decided to finish my ice tea and wait with disgust as the VTR was about to reveal the identity.

_Women try to get his attention, men try to be him but no one can be…_

_Natsume Hyuuga._

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Do you know the feeling of being surprised?

You can be surprised by a birthday gift you never expected, a person in a house that just arrived that you didn't know would be arriving, a stolen kiss, a confession or even a letter. But the worst surprise would be a day when someone close to you would pass away… or would break your heart into pieces

I left High School with my heart broken and I left the city with my heart still broken.

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I practically spurt out the ice tea in my mouth. Luckily for me no one seemed to notice because the annoying screaming girls were all standing up and waiting for their god to come out. _Did they just say Natsume Hyuuga? The Natsume Hyuuga?_ I felt as if the room was spinning.

"Mikan are you alright?" I was able to hear Sumire's question despite the loud shouts of glee and excitement.

"I think, I'm drunk."

"With what? Ice tea?" Sumire asked laughing.

"I've got to get out." I said clearly showing my panic side. I could not and will not be in the same room with the man who broke my heart.

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**Natsume**

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"Yes."

"No!" I stubbornly replied and crossed my arms. I tried to mentally burn the magazine my mother was reading, the famous _The Gadget_ magazine. "Mom! Can you please focus on me."

Mother rolled her eyes and sighed. "You are going to join this show whether you like it or not." She took a sip of her black coffee. "You are my heir, your sister is in America learning the trade at Harvard and you my dear are not getting younger."

I tried to control my temper and did my best to understand her. "Why?" I asked crisply.

Mother this time knew I was serious because she put the magazine down and focused her whole attention on me. I just happen to be sitting in the office of the CEO, my mother.

"Natsume, you do know that we own the largest broadcasting network in Asia. We own the famous Music Label, StarJ. We own houses and resorts. You own a café, a bar, town houses and expensive cars. You want me to tell you why I accepted the deal?" My mother calmly explained as if we were in some important business meeting.

"Yes."

My mother leaned back on her chair and looked at me with great authority. "Because Imai-Tobita Entertainment, black mailed me to accept the offer."

"What!!!" I exploded. "When? How? Why?"

"A week ago. Phone call. Because of your stupid actions at a charity ball last week. If you had just kept your patience in place, you wouldn't be in that position. It's either write about the incident and have the whole world know about it."

I was on the verge of shouting at my mother to shove their black mail down their ass when mother beat me to it.

"Now, if you'd choose the wrong choice then your going to make the this company look bad. The same Company which your father took care off and cherished before he died. A Company which has the largest employees and is depending on us to give-"

I interrupted my mother's way of making me feel guiltier. "If that bastard didn't-"

"Just join the stupid show! I'd rather have you married then you having different girls around you after a few months." My mother said firmly. "I will not allow bad publicity because of a mistake that you could not control!"

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"So let me guess, you weren't able to convince your mom to change her mind."

I looked at Ruka with murder in my eyes who was trying not to laugh. Any moment, I would be capable of murdering someone. If only I didn't lose my temper, I wouldn't be in this position. A position I had tried to avoid since mother found out I was capable of having a family. It was a tradition that at 25, all Hyuuga males should be married. At 28, every week mother would always call me and ask if the latest girl I was with was the girl I would marry. "Mother is even excited when the series comes out." I drawled.

Ruka laughed openly. "Dammed Natsume, I would have never thought you'd be the first one to be married. I assumed that I would be the first to walk the death row."

"This is serious Ruka. I'm not a husband material." I said crisply.

"You thought you'd end up with Mikan though." Ruka said absent-mindedly. At the mere mention of Mikan's name, my heart began to pond and I scowled at Ruka for mentioning her name. He noticed it immediately and sighed. "I'm sorry dude. I know you hate hearing her name but it's been over 10 years since you last saw her. By now, she has gotten over you and you've gotten over her."

"I am." I grudgingly replied. I then turned my attention to the pair of tennis players playing nearby. After the talk with mother, I decided to meet up with Ruka at the Club House we hanged out. Mikan Sakura, the girl who turned my world up-side down. She was my classmate since Elementary school. Their relationship was quite complicated. Why? Because everyone knew that we totally hated each other and they also knew that she was also my girlfriend. How could someone you find annoying turn into your girlfriend. When I was asked if Mikan was my girlfriend, I neither said yes or no.

And then right after graduation I was told I broke Mikan Sakura's heart.

Hotaru looked at me with disgust that day and said I'd pay for playing with Mikan.

Perhaps this was pay day.

"I just can't wait to watch you dude." Ruka said teasing.

"Who said I was going through the humiliation alone." I said innocently.

This intrigued Ruka because he turned serious. "What do you mean by that? What did you do Hyuuga?"

I pretended to shrug and put on my shades. "I just happen to convince your mother and the creator of the Bachelor, that you'd be the host." I smiled with satisfaction when I saw Ruka turn pale. "You my friend are the official host of the Bachelor." I said. "Congratulation, your mother is ecstatic with joy."

"You annoying bastard!" Ruka said dumbstruck.

A waiter approached our table and brought the sandwiches we usually ate. "Besides, I did promise mom that I'd join the stupid show and pick a girl." I took a bit of the sandwich.

"But?"

I finished my sandwich before I talked again. "I didn't promise mother that I'd actually marry one."

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On the first day of shooting the Bachelor, the weather seemed to go with my mood. Dark and gloomy. It had rained the whole day like cats and dogs. Last night, some of my good friends wished me luck and for god to have mercy with the women I chose on the show. I was told that the taping would start at exactly 8pm, it was quarter to 9. Ever since I told Ruka he'd join me, he had been in a bad mood for almost two weeks. The Nogi family was known people but Ruka didn't like the spotlight in entertainment. I was about to walk out of this annoying room with all this annoying crew who kept on telling me to be myself.

"I'm Natsume Hyuuga. I don't need to act." I said dangerously to crew. Everyone became quiet, save for the cell phone that broke the awkward silence in the room. "Who's cell phone is that?" I asked.

"Mr. Nogi's sir." The makeup artist replied.

"Give it to me, I'll answer it." I was about to answer it when Ruka just in time came in. "Your cell is ringing." I said handing him the phone. Ruka grabbed the phone from me immediately and went to a small corner to answer it. All I heard from Ruka was a briefly. _"Finally."_

"Who was that?" I asked. Ruka just shook his head. "No one. Anyways, I was told that we should begin. Just be pleasant." Ruka warned.

Out of the 25 girls tonight I was told I will be handing out 15 roses while 10 girls will walk away with none. Only Hotaru Imai could think about that kind of concept. After a few minutes, I was told to go out and enter the room. Once I entered I was greeted with screaming girls. It was disgusting.

"Now Ladies, you will each have five minutes to talk with the Mr. Hyuuga alone. After he has seen all 25 girls, Mr. Hyuuga will give me the list and I will call out the 15 girls, he has chosen to see in the next round" Ruka smiled wickedly which the ladies cheered.

I'm going to kill the guy. I looked at some of the girls and was immediately aware that I was in a dangerous zone. It was if the girls wanted to eat me alive!

"I suggest you should make a quick impression with our Bachelor." Ruka slyly announced and then saluted me. "Mr. Hyuuga, would you like to say anything?"

"Let's get this over." I said bitterly. Instead of a normal reaction of "_He's-so-mean_" the girls answered with a scream. No wonder men can never understand their language. _GIRLS ARE SIMPLY CRAZY._ I noticed Ruka was trying not to laugh. I went inside the room which the assistant director told me to enter and waited for the first girl to enter.

The first girl that greeted me was insane.

"Ahhh!!!!! I can so die right now!" exclaimed the girl.

I curtly smiled and told her to sit down.

"I can't believe it! I'm so lucky. Oh my god!" She said sitting down and squeezing my hands tightly. I wanted to hit her with a pillow and tell her to act normal. "I'm so sorry Mr. Hyuuga. It's just… AHHHH!!" The girl shouted happily.

"What's your name?" I asked gritting my teeth.

"Bianca. I'm half Japanese and American. I love gymnastics! Here I can show you." Bianca said.

"No! It isn't-" I wasn't able to finish because the girl started to do back flips in her dress that did not suit her. After her performance, I tried to smile. "That was…interesting." I told her before she left. When the door closed, I told the crew who was taping us that the first person who laughed at me will surely experience a slow death torture.

Half the girl I met that night, made me want to run to a nearby church and ask a priest to perform an exorcism on them. But one thing I was sure of, by the time this first shoot was over, I'll be deaf. Every girl came inside the door screaming. Some completely forgot what to say and left the room embarrassed. But there were some girls that were able to control themselves after they were able to scream. I stretched my legs quickly before contestant number 20 came in. I closed my ears and waited for the scream.

"AHHHH! I can't believe it's you!"

I sighed quickly and turned to look at the contestant. "YOU!"

"Hi. It's nice to see you too, Natsume." Sumire said chuckling. "I must assume you are on the verge of being deaf."

I was dumbstruck to find Sumire here. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here just like every girl is. I must say that I was shock to find out you're the first ever Bachelor." Sumire teased lightly.

"Shut up." I said with a smile.

"So did you see her?" Sumire asked.

"See who?"

"Oh. This would be interesting." Sumire smiled mischievously and then stood up.

"Wait! What do you mean!" I said standing up.

"You'll find out soon." Was all Sumire said before she left the room.

"Find out what?" I asked the crew? The assistant director shrugged his shoulders at me.

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When people break up with the people they love, they have their reasons. They lose interest, they may be players, they find someone they like or simply because they think it's better off that way.

Some try to hurt them to protect them from the truth.

And the real truth is, inside their screaming not to believe a single word their saying.

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"Finally, the last contestant and then sleep." I mumbled to myself. After hearing and seeing 24 weird girls, it makes me want to call up my sister and tell her how dangerous her species were. I had already chosen the 15 girls I didn't want to see so the last girl for tonight, I assumed wouldn't even make my list. I heard the door open and saw someone enter. I closed my eyes and waited for her to finish screaming.

Silence.

I opened my eyes and found the contestant sitting very far from me and holding a newspaper, obviously trying to hide her face from me. Taken by surprise, I didn't say anything but observed her instead. All the girls that came in had worn something seductive or elegant. This woman came in with her jeans and some kind of blue blouse. "Hi." I said at the same time noticing her muddy jeans. She'll definitely not be picked!

While I waited for her to say something, I noticed how she clearly wanted me not to see her face because she was holding the newspaper as if she was about to wrap her face with it. "Do you want to leave?" I asked, the girl nodded vigorously. "Fine. Leave then." I said irritated. I watched the girl stand up and move backwards, still trying to conceal her look. Because of her immaturity, she wasn't able to see the stool behind her. I didn't bother to mention it because the truth was I was sort of curious to find out who the girl was.

As expected, the girl tumbled and landed with a thud.

"Idiot." I said turning around not bothering to help her. I didn't know that I spoken it loudly because suddenly the crew laugh.

"JERK!"

I froze right on there, not because the girl threw her sandal at me but because of the voice of the girl. I quickly turned around to find out if what I heard was actually true. There she was, standing with a missing sandal, looking furiously at me with embarrassment written on her cheeks.

"YOU NEVER CHANGE STUPID NATSUME!" She shouted and went pass me to retrieve her sandal. And with a huge "humph", the woman opened the door and slammed it shut.

Everyone was clearly shocked at the quick change of events but no one was stunned than me.

I just saw the last girl I wanted to see.

Mikan Sakura.

And she just humiliated me.

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I was standing in front of a room now. The 25 girls were standing and looking impatiently as they waited for Ruka to announce who made it to the next round.

"I know that our Bachelor was thrilled to meet all you beautiful women." Ruka said cheerfully.

I wanted to puke.

"But like I said, 10 of you girls are going home while 15 are advancing to the next round." Ruka said. "Mr. Hyuuga has given me the list of girls… he wishes to… get to know better." Ruka said happily while looking at me.

If the camera wasn't filming right now, I would have murdered Ruka right on the spot. "Yes." I said tersely but with a fake smile.

Ruka chuckled and read the list. I saw the weird girls gasp and held each others hand.

"Ms. Tomoyo." Ruka called out. Thank god she didn't scream instead she cheered and hastily accepted the rose I gave her.

"Ms. Hitomi." The shy girl that could not look at me was blushing all over and accepted my rose with a smile and quickly went back to her position.

"Ms. Hikaru." A red haired boyish girl came out quickly and grabbed the rose without looking at me.

"Ms. Sumire." I saw her shock face that quickly turned into appreciation. I wonder why.

I mechanically gave the roses to the girls Ruka called out. But I noticed one person who was trying to make her self invisible. I rolled my eyes at her direction. She should have just left the room if she didn't want to see me. _And that idiot must be so desperate to find a rich man so she could be rich_, I angrily thought.

"Now, there are only eleven of you left without a rose and only one rose left." Ruka said slowly. "One of you will advance-"

_And she thinks I'd chose her?_

"To the next round and-"

_She dares to humiliate me! In front of the camera! In front of the crew!_

"And the last girl to accept the rose is Ms. B-"

"Mikan Sakura." I said interrupting Ruka. Everyone gasped in surprise while she looked at me with murder.

This reality show just turned interesting.

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	2. Not You Again

**AN: **Series does not belong to me.

I do not own the **Bachelor** series nor created it.

Based on the reality show The Bachelor

**Special Thank You's:**

bpqq

karinielle

1AriA08

claireponcherrii

lucia096

miaxXxneko

littlegirl95

agay

Autumn Aremega

fire dragonheart

onore-sekai

-kradraven-

dominiqueanne

arya21

**To:** **cLaRiShA, Hikari Natsume, MikanXNatsumefan101, HengHeng, Kurukus**

– You guys never forget to review. A million thank you's

**To:** **Midnight Taiyou and Pathetic Rainbow**

– I love your babblings at the forum of MHR

I'll gladly be your friend.

-

A special thanks to **MyHopelessRomantic **for helping me edit this page.

**-**

**The Bachelor**

"_The last rose is for Ms. Mikan Sakura," Natsume said._

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**Chapter Two: **Not You Again.

**Mikan**

**-**

**-**

Has there ever been a time in your life when you've encountered a stupid question like: _If you were an animal, what animal would you be?_

I'd always say back then that I'd want to be a turtle. By being a turtle, you'd be able to hide behind a thick shell when being bullied or when frightened. Hotaru agreed with it because she says my brain works as slow as the turtle walks. But that changed from the very moment Natsume called my name. At that moment, I wished for the gods to turn me into a snake. A large python, in fact, so I could silently strangle him, slowly but painfully. A grand torture scene was playing in my mind where I was torturing the bastard and seeing his eyes pop out! Unfortunately, the god's decided to keep me in a weak human form and watch me humiliate myself.

When we were told to assemble in three rows, I immediately chose to be in the back row; far from his annoying eyes. Finding out that Natsume was the Bachelor, I wanted to start a revolution. Didn't the producers even perform a thorough background check on the guy they picked?! Didn't they know they just chose the devil's heir to the throne!? But of course I couldn't do that because I remembered specifically that Hotaru would kill me if I did something disastrous on the show. I would be forever humiliated because they would air every scene the producers thought would be interesting for the T.V. audience and in exchange for my own humiliation would be larger T.V. ratings and more advertisements for them. Worse, Hotaru will be humiliated because she chose me over hundreds of girls that would gladly be in my position. _A pathetic spy._

She could have just told me that I'd be her guinea pig instead.

I tried my best to act as if nothing was wrong. The other girls didn't seem to mind my presence because they all _ASSUMED _I was going home. After embarrassing myself in front of a crew I've never met and coming out of the room as if I was an over ripe tomato, I had prayed that the jerk would do something right in his whole entire life and that was to completely ignore me.

"_The last rose is for Ms. Mikan Sakura," Natsume said in a mocking tone that only I could detect_.

I wasn't able to hear my own shocking gasp because the other ten girls, who wanted to get in badly, gasped loudly, a very unladylike gasp. I did not notice their objections. I tried to smile but I knew it didn't turn out that way because I noticed Ruka about to choke with amusement - or was it laughter? I approached the jerk, grabbed the rose and sneered at him before going back to my position. I saw Sumire look at me with glee while the other girls were amazed I would do that to their 'god', their human Adonis.

"To the ladies, who didn't receive a rose, I'm sorry but it's time for you guys to go home," Ruka said in a solemn voice. Immediately, the girls who didn't get selected to continue to try to steal the Bachelor's heart, started to cry. I wanted to shout at them and say how lucky they were to be leaving hell and would trade my soul to leave right then, but I decided to keep quiet, remembering the humiliation I would face if that was to occur.

"Now that ten girls are gone and fifteen remain, I suggest you ladies go and rest because tomorrow, you will arrive to the area where you girls will battle for the bachelor's love," Ruka explained.

_Battle?_ What in the world did I get myself into? Ruka sounded as if I was going to war. I wanted to puke on how Ruka said it but the other girls dreamily sighed. Why couldn't they see what I saw in Natsume?

_He was a big jerk._

"Mr. Hyuuga, is there anything you wish to say to the remaining fifteen ladies?" Ruka said in an evil sort of way.

"Good luck," Natsume replied gruffly and left the room.

The girls next to me screamed with delight.

I groaned in realization that I was going to be a part of this stupid show.

I didn't get the chance to say hi to Ruka because I decided that I didn't want anyone to know I knew the host and the irritating bachelor. Of course, there was always the fact that I would have to resist the temptation to kung-fu Ruka's ass. I didn't even want to see Hotaru because I was afraid she'd chain me in her room to make sure I wouldn't escape. How did I know?

Simple, really. I tried to leave the hotel but the guards seemed to be watching me like a hawk… guards which were under the control of Imai Inc. I swear, Hotaru could rule the world without a problem. She could dominate the world without a hitch.

I accepted the key to my room and murmured a 'thank you' to the manager for putting my things in my room. I rubbed my neck and waited patiently for the elevator to stop on my floor. Just like in movies, when you try to run away from a person you hate, they always happen to appear in places where you don't want them to pop up. No, Natsume Hyuuga wasn't on the same elevator I was riding. Nor did he appear when the elevator door opened like some cheesy movie. Instead, he was sitting on my bed, inside my room.

"AHHHHH!!" I screamed and started hitting him with my knapsack hard. I pretended I didn't recognize him so I could have a reason to hit him good.

"Stop it hag. Ouch! What in the world do you have in there?" Natsume said, rubbing the top of his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was the jerk, Natsume," I said sarcastically. "How did you get into this room?"

"Idiot, we own this hotel."

I decided not to say anything else. Of course, the manager had to betray the customer's trust and let Natsume in my room. "The staff here will not be receiving a single tip from me," I murmured angrily. "Why are you here?" I asked.

"You still haven't changed a bit, idiot."

"Oh, don't think I'll change for you, jerk," I retorted angrily. "Why did you even give that rose to me when it was meant for someone else?"

"Simply to annoy you, loud mouth," Natsume said innocently. "Why else?"

"You stupid jerk!" I said fuming. I clenched my fist and was about to hit him in the face when he suddenly stood up from the bed, blocked my hand, grabbed my wrist and pulled me close. For a moment, I knew we were really close because I could feel his heat, smell the strong scent of his expensive cologne and his breath on my face which made me shiver.

"Cold…?" Natsume asked mockingly. I tried to wriggle away but he held my wrist tighter. "I forgot how it felt to hold you," he whispered in my ears. "Indeed, you haven't changed."

Instead of the usual stuff of being at awe with his - if you even call it - confession, it made my temper skyrocket. I looked at him with a seductive look. "Really…?" I asked with my strained, husky voice. I saw him smile wickedly at me and lowered his head for a kiss. "I don't think so!" I said while stepping on his foot really hard and sending him a good, hard punch in the eye. I watched Natsume look at me with a horrific expression.

"Had enough, baby?" I asked sweetly.

I must applaud his self restraint because after I punched him, I wanted to dig my own grave. Hitting a Hyuuga was not a wise thing to do. While I watched him leave with disgust and heard him mutter, _"That girl is barbaric."_ I was actually glad that I got away from a near death experience.

I immediately locked my door and sat on the floor. "I don't care if I get humiliated! I won't back out of the show but I will make you want me out of the show!" I shouted, while breathing heavily. I didn't know how long I sat there but all I knew was… it had been a long time since I saw the jerk's crimson eyes.

And I remembered how he was able to make me cry, again.

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**Natsume**

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"I still can't believe that after ten years of not seeing each other, she greets you with a fist," Ruka said, chuckling.

The official bachelor's house was huge. I was told that Imai Inc. had officially bought this house for the reality show. A house which had a large Olympic pool, a tennis court, eight rooms excluding three rooms for the maids, a humongous kitchen with a good chef and his crew, a ballroom, four Jacuzzi's, a terrific terrace and a breath taking view of the ocean. Imai Inc. said it was a simple beach house when interviewed by the press.

Indeed, Imai was the richest family in Asia… and very soon, the world.

I scowled at the happy Ruka who seemed to enjoy my torment. It had been a long and exhausting day. The girls that I had chosen were completely mad. When we arrived at the "Bachelor House", I was forced to date the sadistic girls. They couldn't stop giggling, they were smiling as if they were in a beauty pageant and the conversation was horrible. Their vocabulary evolved around entertainment.

Except for two girls, that is. Who else but Sumire and the idiot?

I wasn't surprised anymore to find that Sumire was relaxed when talking with me. We exchanged a few words but it was an easy conversation. I had done everything to avoid the idiot but Ruka had announced tonight we'd all be "dining" together. Every girl dressed in a seductive way while the idiot came in with her pajamas. She even ate her spaghetti like a pig. She slurped like she didn't have a care for the world and she didn't even bother to chew her food properly. She responded to the girls' question with a fake laugh and a direct silent statement at me, that she wanted out.

She didn't have to remind me! Of course I was going to ELIMINATE HER!

"Is something wrong?" Ruka asked innocently. He knew that I was going through hell.

"I remember you hated your current job," I muttered.

Ruka pretended to fake a heart attack. "Ouch, you wound me," he said dramatically. "I take pleasure and revenge while seeing your pained face. So many beautiful girls, but lacking the brains," Ruka said, sighing.

After that horrible encounter with the idiot, I had to put on my good pair of black shades everyday to cover the damage the idiot did to me. I didn't know what came over me to do that to her that night but I knew one thing for sure.

_She had to leave._

"This house is huge," Ruka said, absent mindedly. "I wonder if Hotaru stuffs bodies in here."

After the disastrous dinner, courtesy of the idiot, I had retreated to the only sanctuary available: the library. "Bodies…?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, the people who decided to go against her wishes," Ruka answered mockingly.

"I'm telling you dude, if people think you're the devil's son, then Hotaru must be his wife," Ruka said shivering.

I rolled my eyes at him. Ever since elementary school, Hotaru had always bullied Ruka. In high school, she would take pictures of him, which even I was surprised on how resourceful Hotaru was. At school and in college, people feared me but when it came to Hotaru, I looked like a saint. Hotaru had a reputation of being heartless, cold and an ambitious woman. Because of her traits, every one looked up to her in the world of technology. And I secretly knew Ruka liked Hotaru, too.

Ruka was the type of guy you would compare to prince charming. Girls chased after him but Ruka had a problem. He was more interested in animals. The Nogi household was full with different species of animals because of Ruka. It was like a zoo. He was the silent type of friend that usually lets him self talk when he's comfortable with his surroundings. That's why we jive along. We go to music bars but we never mingle. We go to charity parties but we never entertain. We only hang out with selected people on rare occasions. Other than that, we were busy with our own lives.

But everything changed when the idiot and I had separated on bad terms. Hotaru probably made it a mission to see us or me, fall in disgrace for hurting her friend. She had accused Ruka for cooperating with me to making the idiot cry. Ruka had tried his best to defend himself but Hotaru didn't listen. All she said was, '_we were going to pay'_.

I told Ruka that I'd knock some sense into that cold, heartless inventor but Ruka told me it was too late. It was then I found out that Ruka had fallen in love with the mad woman, Hotaru Imai.

I shuddered at the thought. I looked at Ruka and saw him busy reading some sort of script. "Why do you even bother to memorize those lines?" I said. "Your lines are easy. '_So who will you give your rose too_?'" I said mimicking Ruka's voice in a girlie way.

"Shut up," Ruka said laughing. "Anyways, I have to go now. Your spy will be coming over here to talk to you and give you details about the girls you have chosen to give you a wider choice on whom you should pick," Ruka said with a wave and left me alone.

I hit my head softly on the study table. "I'm going to go insane."

I heard a soft knock. "Come in," I said, not bothering to look at my -

"Let's get this over jerk," Mikan hissed.

I slowly look up and rubbed my head. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked. I watched the idiot look at me as if I was insane.

"What the hell do you think I'm here for? Listen Maya Satomi has bad breath, Chuni Li cannot live without her cell phone, Kiera Dy cannot spell and-"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I exploded.

The idiot blinked at me a few times. "You don't know?" she asked.

"Look, leave now. I'm waiting for -"

"I am your goddamn spy, you stupid jerk!" Mikan retorted angrily and then left me alone with an ear shattering slam of the door, once again.

For the second time in my life, the idiot left me, surprised and in a dilemma.

Why?

1. The idiot was the spy?

2. Ruka told me I'd be having a spy.

3. The idiot was the spy.

4. I had _assumed_ Sumire WAS the spy.

5. The idiot IS the spy!

6. I had signed a written document that I could not eliminate the spy at all costs.

7. The idiot was the spy and I could not eliminate her.

Hotaru Imai planned it well.

Damn.

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AN: Super thank you to those who keeps on supporting my fics. I'm glad that you seem to like it. I know those who are loyal to the story **Somewhere I'll Find You **are asking me when I'll update. I'm trying as hard as I can. But I can assure you that it will be a long chapter. Worth the wait…I think.

The next chapter of **The Bachelor** will deal with the past of Mikan and Natsume.

Oh yeah, please join and support the forum of My Hopeless Romantic. Go nominate your favorite stories and author for 2007 at the Gakuen forum site.

Anyways, please leave a review!

Chapter edited: **04.26.08**


	3. Growing Up

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**A/N: **Gakuen Alice will never belong to me.

Based on the reality show called _The Bachelor_

**Settings: **Alternate Universe

No alices/powers involved

**Ages:** 20+

To **Everyon****e** who reviewed the two previous chapter… **Thank you!**

**crimsoneyes44-** Thank you for everything. I'll try to remember everything you've pointed out to me.

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**The Bachelor**

**By: **crazygirl18

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**Chapter Three:**

Growing Up

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**Natsume**

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"_I'm a bitch, I'm tease  
I'm a goddess on my knees  
When you hurt  
When you suffer  
I'm your angel undercover"  
_

"_Mikan… has such great taste in… romantic songs."_

I grinded my teeth together and tried my best not to say something harsh to the girl who was trying her best not to _do or say anything_ stupid in front of me. I had to remind myself constantly that this was a show handed to me personally by Hotaru Imai and if I were to do _anything_ that would ruin her show… the mere thought was unnerving: she wouldn't hesitate to drop me off in the middle of the Sahara desert, unleash her deadly weapons, and use me as target practice.

"_I've been numb  
I'm revived  
Can't say I'm not alive  
You know I wouldn't want it any other way"_

But with that simple remark from Katherine Lowe, the British one with bright wavy yellow hair and fair complexion, had just been briefing me about her family history, ex-boyfriends, money, how many houses they owned, relatives, how she fell off of her first horse, how much she adored me, and some other nonsensical crap… had just gotten herself a ticket out of the show… _for deliberately lying_.

"You actually think that woman who is singing on top of that stupid stage-" I asked through clenched teeth. "-_has great taste in music?"_ That blasted woman, Mikan Sakura, was making my ears bleed to death. From the moment Mikan stepped on the stage, all she did was sing crappy songs when I clearly remember ordering her to sing _light_ non-cheesy romantic songs… but so far, her selection wasn't even remotely close to _light, romantic_ or _non-cheesy_. Thankfully, the idiot decided to take a much needed five minute break after that… _horrible love song_.

Katherine grabbed for her water glass and took a quick sip. I guess she knew I wasn't _thrilled_ with the topic she suddenly chose. "I th… th… thought it would be polite to-"

"-Compliment her?" I asked grimly. "Ms. Lowe, do not over stress your precious brain into thinking what perfect words you can use to compliment Ms. Sakura. You and I both know when Ms. Sakura started singing _Blood_ by _My Chemical Romance_ and _My Humps_ by the _Black Eyed Peas, _any romantic atmosphere or ambience you were hoping for Ms. Lowe, would have been thwarted. So complementing Ms. Sakura will be your biggest mistake."

"But… I… it's not my fault." Katherine said who was now starting to stammer. "I just thought a subject about Ms. Mikan would enable you to converse with me."

"Excuse me?" I asked, somewhat taken aback with what Katherine said. "Why in the world you think I would talk about Ms. Sakura when I'm with you?"

"I… I… I…" Katherine stammered while her cheeks were red from embarrassment.

I decided to take pity on the girl and waited patiently for another three minutes for her to regain her posture. "You were saying?"

Base on Katherine's surprised look, she must have not expected that I would ask her the same question again.

"These past few days, you know the girls and I have been trying to get your complete attention," Katherine answered after taking a few deep breaths. "But so far no one has… _except _for Ms. Sumire and Ms. Mikan."

"I've talked to the other girls-"

"-But not like the way you talk with Ms. Sumire, most especially with Ms. Mikan." Katherine said without being bothered that she had actually dared to interrupt me. "My reward for the challenge that the girls and I had this afternoon would be a romantic date… the food, the venue and the scenery are all picturesque. The music sucks but I can handle it," she commented with a grim smile. "But after you greeted me and gave a kiss on the cheek, I have done all the talking and only when I make a simple comment about Mikan do you start to talk!"

"I've answered every question you asked me, Katherine." I answered with dour tone.

"But you don't ask me anything!" Katherine cried out. "It takes two people to make a conversation!"

"Well, we are conversing." I said sarcastically, draining all of my red wine from my glass.

"Why did you have to choose Mikan to sing tonight?" she said with a sigh. "Every girl here are wondering why you still keep Mikan when everyone knows you guys don't like each other. Unless you, Natsume, are in love with Mikan?"

When she asked me that last absurd question, I was happy I had finished my drink otherwise I would have choked by Katherine's direct question. Placing the glass down gently, I got the napkin and wiped my mouth. "Katherine, let me remind you why Ms. Sakura is singing tonight. She is here because of the consequence of the said game you girls played. The deal was the girl who had the lowest score would be the one providing the music for us. I did not choose Ms. Sakura to sing, in fact, I wouldn't have chosen her if I was given the choice of which girl would be singing tonight." I said coldly. "There is a reason why Ms. Sakura is here. Just like every girl I've voted out has a valid reason why I didn't give them the rose." After saying that, I got up from the chair, gave Katherine a small bow, and prepared to leave.

"You haven't answered my question, Natsume. Are you in love with her? Are you in love with Mikan?"

I turned around and looked straight into Katherine Lowe's watery eyes. "No. I am not in love with Mikan Sakura." I said callously.

"Liar."

"Believe what you want, Ms. Lowe. Thank you for the lovely dinner." I said bowing once more and quickly left her.

_Indeed, Ms. Katherine Lowe had to go._

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"_Why in the hell did you eliminate Katherine?"_

I lazily looked up from the book I was reading and innocently stared at the woman who opened the library door with so much strength, I was surprised the door didn't break. The idiot was now approaching me with a look that screamed _"I'm GOING to Kill You!"_

"So what?" I asked casually.

"So what?!" Mikan exploded. "The woman you eliminated was Katherine Lowe! _The Katherine Lowe_! She is practically _r-o-y-a-l,_ you stupid jerk! Her whole ancestors are all Dukes, Lords and Marquis! With her inheritance alone, your future children and grandchildren wouldn't even have to worry about their freaking future! That's how rich the Lowes are!"

"Then go marry her yourself, stupid," I replied plainly.

"Why did you eliminate her?" Mikan demanded.

Base on the idiot's face and how I was answering her, I had no doubt she wanted to strangle me… _badly_. "Because she said you had an _excellent_ choice of music and you know I hate liars. Now leave me alone," I ordered and reverted back my attention to the novel I was reading. Suddenly, Mikan slammed both of her hands on my desk, which made me jump slightly.

"The FREAKING reason why I am staying in this… _hellish place_ is because of my best friend," the idiot hissed. "My disgusting job is to make sure you, _Narcissus_, get the _right girl_ who could rule by your side in your _Kingdom of Doom _and live a jolly life. There are only 8 girls left excluding me and you just voted off the _only_ girl I think your _mother _and _the company_ you own would accept!" she said, while banging the table once again with her right hand.

Amused by the idiot's anger, I crossed my arms and gave her a mocking salute. "Believe me Sakura, you don't know how much I want you out of here. Just seeing you is a pain."

"The feeling is mutual," Mikan retorted and started to leave. "But because you have a brain the size of an atom, you just had to ruin both of our lives by picking me as a contestant! I hate you, Natsume!" She said before slamming the doors once again.

It took me five minutes to realize I was still staring at the door and was _still _replaying the idiot's last words before making her dramatic exit.

"_I hate you, Natsume!"_

No matter how much I tried to concentrate on other things, her hateful words kept on ringing in my head.

"_I hate you, Natsume! I hate you, Natsume! I hate you, Natsume!"_

_Damn. _

I didn't know why her words were affecting me this way. Mikan Sakura had no right to occupy my thoughts or the power to hurt me again.

Damn my large ego to hell for agreeing to join this stupid reality show!

Damn for even thinking I would have fun teasing the idiot!

Damn the idiot for agreeing to help her best friend!

_Damn Hotaru Imai and her evilness!_

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**Sumire**

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"With a little more pressure Mikan, your teeth would be as brilliant as the full moon," I told Mikan in an amused tone. "Why are you taking your frustration on your poor little gums and teeth?"

Mikan gave me an adverse look before continuing her adventure to attaining sparkling clean teeth. "Go away, Sumire."

When we got to the official bachelor house, Mikan and I decided to share rooms. We both didn't want to be partnered with a roommate who did nothing but worship Natsume. I did admit I was a fanatic over Natsume Hyuuga back in junior high but when I came to terms Natsume only liked Mikan, my worshiping days over him died. It was quite amusing that the women which Mikan and I were surrounded with, adored Natsume as if he was some god. In here, the girls were completely blind to all the faults and cold demeanor he possessed. One wrong word about him, the girls were ready to attack and defend his honor… which is precisely why the few remaining girls wanted Mikan to leave.

Ignoring her plea, I leaned back on the side of our bathroom door. "Mikan, ever since you came back from god knows where, dark clouds have been trailing you. To say the least, it's quite frightening."

"I'm just so annoyed with that stupid jerk!" Mikan announced after finally putting her tooth brush down. _"Katherine Lowe was the perfect choice!"_

I followed Mikan to her bed and sat opposite of her. "Is this really the reason why you're upset?" I drawled.

"Yes!" Mikan exclaimed loudly. "The jerk just threw away the best cake!"

"Maybe he found something he didn't like about her."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully, shrugging. "But all the girls he sent away so far were the right choices."

"I agree with the others, but Katherine didn't have BO, yellow teeth, sweaty hands, an IQ below 50 or-" Mikan stopped talking because our bedroom door suddenly burst opened and two giggling girls came inside.

"Hi Mikan and Sumire!" Sunako greeted in a jolly voice. She was the famous swimsuit model that guys dreamed to date. Standing 5'7 tall, she had green wavy hair that spanned her back, as well as mesmerizing green eyes, capturing every man's heart. According to a men's survey, it was impossible not to fall in love with Sunako Lee…

_Bullshit!_

"Do you mind if we can stay in your room for awhile?" Tomoe asked, giggling. Tomoe was the daughter of one of the famous painter here in Japan. Her father began to gain recognition 5 years ago after he had painted Tomoe like an angelic angel. With black straight hair, a creamy complexion and one dimple on the side of her left cheek, Tomoe Utada features was the perfect model in the eyes of every painter. "Our roommates are planning something for Natsume tomorrow which they don't want us to know."

But, even if they were the most beautiful women on earth, they had one flaw in common. _Sunako and Tomoe were both dense people._

I was about to say no because one idiot friend was enough: two more idiots were just too much for me to handle. Unfortunately, Mikan beat me to the punch.

"Of course Tomoe and Sunako, you can stay in our room for awhile," Mikan said, smiling.

"So what were you guys talking about before we came in?" Tomoe asked.

"Nothing much, just reflecting on today's elimination," I answered curtly.

"Did you see the look of hurt in Katherine's face? I guess she didn't think she would be eliminated," Sunako said as she sat down beside me while Tomoe sat next to Mikan. "I have to admit, I was surprised that he kept flirty Audrey instead of Katherine."

"But at least one of our tough competitors is out of the game," Tomoe grinned. She then turned to Mikan and grabbed both of her hands. "Ms. Mikan, have you ever been in love before?"

"Huh?" Mikan said with a nervous laugh while trying to take Tomoe's hands off her. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that most of the girls are wondering… if you've ever fallen in love," Tomoe said with a mischievous smile. "Because by the way you treat our Natsume… we thought… you might be…"

"…Be?"

"Lesbian."

Awkward silence engulfed the room.

I wasn't sure if Mikan's blank look at Tomoe was a good sign but I was aware Tomoe had no clue whatsoever that Mikan was about to explode. I began to make a mental countdown in my mind_. Five, four, three, two..._

"WHAT!" Mikan shrieked after standing up. "WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THAT IDEA?"

"Mikan, chill out," I said, pushing Mikan back to the bed and sat next to her. I looked at Tomoe who was sitting in my place with Sunako. I winked at Tomoe, telling her not to worry as I patted Mikan's back trying to calm her down. "Tomoe was just asking. Besides, there's nothing wrong being a lesbian."

"I know that! I have nothing against them… But if my mom is watching this show, I'm dead." Mikan explained while shaking my shoulders. "My mom's ultimate wish is for me to give her grandchildren as soon as possible. Her heart will be shattered if she learned her only child is a lesbian!"

I smacked Mikan's hand away so she would stop shaking me to death. "Don't worry; I believe your mom knows you're straight and there is such a thing as _adoption_."

"You know, I have this feeling you guys seem to know each other for a long time," Sunako noted with hint of curiosity in her tone after Mikan quieted down.

"Yeah," Tomoe said, nodding her head in agreement. "Even though you previously told us you first met at the beginning of the show, you guys seem to know each other pretty well."

I guess they weren't that dense after all.

On our first night as roommates, Mikan asked me if it was alright if I could say nothing about her studying at the Alice Academy or that we were classmates back in elementary and high school. Mikan didn't want the other girls to know she knew Natsume _personally_.

"Nah." Mikan and I said together.

"I guess being roommates made you guys closer." Sunako said, not realizing she gave us a perfect excuse.

"You're right." Mikan said.

"Absolutely!" I concurred.

"But Mikan, have you fallen in love?" Tomoe asked again. "Even just once?"

"Yeah Mikan, you're the only one who hasn't talked about your previous boyfriend."

"Not true! Sumire hasn't shared anything yet!"

"Hey, don't switch the subject, Mikan! They're talking about your love life, not mine."

"If I'm going to say anything about my love life, you have to say something about yours, Sumire!"

My heart began to pound. From day one, Mikan was very curious why Koko and I broke up. Mikan had tried everything to find out the reason but just like the others who were trying to find out why I called it quits with the famous tennis star, I told her I didn't want to talk about it. _It was too personal._

But… _I also had a job to do._

"What do you want to know?" I asked quietly, directing the question at Mikan only. Mikan had no idea this conversation was very important to me and if I had to talk about Koko to get information, then so be it, because if I didn't… _I'd be in deep trouble_. "But you have to promise me that you'll tell us who the first guy you fell in love was." I said, challenging Mikan.

"Fine." Mikan said with reluctance. "Why did you and Kokoroyomi break up?"

The two girls shot a surprised look at Mikan because only _very, very_, _very _close friends of the famous tennis star call him Kokoroyomi… but of course Mikan didn't know that.

"Koko didn't want to get married. I thought it was alright with me but in the end… like every girl out there, I wanted to experience getting married in a church," I said with a sad smile.

"Sumire… I'm sor-"

I raised my hand to stop Mikan from finishing off her sentence. "-Don't you dare apologize!" I quickly said. "Now you know the reason and so does half of Japan, can we go to the most intriguing love story? It's your time to confess Mikan."

Mikan rolled her eyes at me.

"Oh come on, Mikan. Tell us." Tomoe pleaded.

"Yeah Mikan, please!"

"Fine!" Mikan said raising both of her hands in defeat. "I'm just going to say this once and if I hear anyone of you guys blab it out, I'll choke you to death."

Tomoe and Sunako snapped their heads at me, to see if Mikan was just joking.

"Don't listen to that crazy woman." I said, chuckling. "So what's the dude's name?"

Mikan rolled her eyes at me. "I don't want to mention the… _guy's name_ because his ego might explode if he knew I was talking about him on national television." Sunako and Tomoe just laughed, silently agreeing while I gave Mikan a gentle smile probing her to continue. We all found a comfortable spot and waited for Mikan to continue. "Let's just call him… Mr. Jerk." Mikan said with a smirk. "The first time I met Mr. Jerk was way back in elementary-"

"How cute! Childhood love!"

"I love childhood love!"

"Can we just listen to the story _without_ interruption?" I told Sunako and Tomoe.

"Like I was saying," Mikan continued. "Mr. Jerk was my classmate since elementary all the way to high school. There was never a day that passed where we would not fight. Mr. Jerk was the most arrogant, selfish, annoying, pig-headed, perverted, and egotistical man I ever met in my whole life! He thought the world revolved around him. He walked around the school as if he owned it! The whole student body was either scared or amazed by the stupid jerk! Even the teachers didn't dare to mess with him! He always got top grades on every test when he only came to class whenever he wanted while me-" Mikan pointed to herself. "-who studied almost every night and went to sleep very late always got average scores! It was so unfair!"

I was about to tell Mikan that her voice was beginning to get louder and louder but then her face suddenly changed.

"But even if he was the most arrogant, selfish, annoying, pig-headed, perverted, and egotistical man who claimed the world revolved around him," Mikan said somberly, "Mr. Jerk never failed to make me smile. He knew what to do to cheer me up. He protected me when people tried to take advantage of me. He would get into fights if someone else called me vulgar names. He patiently helped me to understand those math quizzes and would always called me on my cell phone to make sure I was studying for the exams and not falling asleep. It wasn't hard to fall in love with Mr. Jerk. The only thing what I couldn't understand was… how can you hate someone so much, but still love them?" Mikan asked, with a small sad laugh. "I thought everything was alright between us. After my first kiss with Mr. Jerk in sophomore year, I thought we were a couple. Even though we didn't tell each other the three letter words… I thought of him as my first boyfriend."

"But Mikan," Tomoe said, hesitating a little. "Was there anyone who tried to court you?"

"There was," I said laughing, remembering the boys who tried to court Mikan but had no chance because of Natsume secret interference.

"How did you know?" Sunako asked.

Oops. I glanced at Mikan who had an amused look on her face. "Just a guess," I said, laughing. "Continue with your story, Mikan."

Mikan just shook her head at me. "In our fourth year, he promised he'd study at the same university I'd be going to. Everything was going smoothly between Mr. Jerk and me. We continued to act like we usually did, which is why only our close friends knew about my real status with Mr. Jerk… and then graduation day came. After the graduation ceremony, he asked me if I could meet up with him around 8pm at the usual park we went to."

**Flashback**

_Friday, 9:48pm_

**Mikan's POV**

"_I'll be studying at the Harvard University."_

The smile that I had held for the whole day dropped. I immediately stopped swinging. "What are you talking about?" I asked, playfully hitting him on the shoulder. "No, you're not. You said that you'd follow me to any school to make sure you'd be the only annoying creature in my life."

"_Well, I decided to change my mind, idiot," he answered and began to leave._

"Wait!" I shouted, getting off the swing. "What's wrong? You're acting like a real jerk right now!"

"_Well, wasn't I a jerk in your eyes since elementary?" He retorted. He didn't turn around to face me, but he still stopped._

"I don't understand…" My eyes began to water. "I studied… I got the scholarship… I did what I had to do to get into that University and now you're…"

"_You're such an idiot," he said huffing. "Like I said before, I'm surprised idiots like you got into the university, but I'm still studying at Harvard. Don't worry idiot, isn't your best friend studying with yo-"_

"-She isn't." I told him quietly. For some reason this made him look at me.

"_What?" He asked, confused. "When did she tell you?"_

"She told me three days ago… I was sad at first but I didn't stop her because I knew… you'd be with me. But I guess jerks like you never change nor know how to keep a promise," I forced out.

_His face suddenly became hard and began to walk away from me. "Whatever idiot, you're old enough to be alone."_

"What if I tell you not to leave me?" I didn't shout it out, but I guess he heard me because he stood still. "Stay…"

"_Who are you to ask me that question, idiot?" he asked, facing me and looking straight into my eyes: "You're not even my girlfriend."_

My heart went numb. I had to take three long deep breaths to steady myself and to force the tears that threatened to fall to stay put.

"_Or did you think you were, idiot?" he asked, mocking. "You did."_

Clutching both of my fist tightly, I took one more deep breath and prayed to the gods that I would have enough strength to leave the jerk in one piece, because my mind was already coming up with 50 situations of how to murder the jerk! "I'm such an idiot." I said, trying to smile brightly. "You're right; it was selfish of me to ask you if you could stay when I was under the delusion that I was your girlfriend. I was overly presumptuous to think we were in love. I'm sorry." I bowed to him and left as fast as I could.

**End of Flashback**

"I thought the happiness I was feeling that specific day would never end," I said half-smiling. "But he robbed it away from me. I came back to my house and told myself I wasn't going to cry a river over a jerk like him. I never told my parents or my best friend what happened that night. I didn't want to bother them about my problem."

"Aw, you went to college hear broken, didn't you Mikan?' Sunako said with misty tears in her eyes. "Did your best friend ever find out about what the jerk did to you?"

"Yes, my heart wasn't intact," I confessed, hugging one of my small pillows, "which is why I was a mess in my first semester at college. I did stupid things, made stupid decisions, and said stupid statements back then. I would have actually lost my scholarship if it wasn't for my best friend and her _grand awakening slap."_

Sunako and Tomoe gave Sumire a weird look when she suddenly chuckled.

"Sorry." Sumire said.

"So what happened after your best friend came?" Tomoe asked.

"Well, after telling me that I was an idiot for making a stupid man like Mr. Jerk ruin my life, she decided to transfer schools and study with me. My best friend became a great help and all the other jerks who were bothering me never attempted to talk to me again. I was jerk-free for almost four years." I said, smiling. "Gradually, my heart began to heal. When I began dating again, I didn't feel awkward with the men my best friend approved of or felt any pain when someone would mention Mr. Jerk… but then I met Mr. Jerk again."

"What?" Tomoe and Sunako exclaimed together.

"You saw Nats- I mean Mr. Jerk?" Sumire said, surprised. "The nerve of that stupid jerk!"

"Yup, I saw him at the old coffee shop where we used to hang out."

"And what did you do?" Sumire asked.

"After he said hi, I poured coffee over his shirt." I said laughing with the girls. "It's quite funny when I recall it."

"So what happened next?"

My laughter died down and I sighed. "No matter how much I despised Mr. Jerk, I wasn't going to run away from him. Every 4pm, I would always see him at the café and he would always approach my table even though I told him to stay away from me. I found out he was here in Japan for only two months. It was harmless at the beginning, because we acted as if we were just two high school friends. I didn't tell my best friend because I knew she'd kill Mr. Jerk for hurting me and then strangle me for entertain the man who hurt me. I should have listened to her," I said, sighing again. "One morning, I found myself falling for him all over again. This time, I told him I couldn't see him anymore because I didn't want to go through the same pain again caused by the same man."

**Flashback**

_One Tuesday Evening, at the old park_

"_Stay… with… me… Mikan."_

I was about to leave him when he grabbed my right hand and held it tightly. I tried to pull it away because every second I stayed with him, I could feel the wall I put around my heart chipping away. I had to be strong. "Don't say something like that jerk, you were never good at jokes," I pretended to laugh.

"_I love you."_

I stopped struggling at once. The three words I longed to hear from him… he finally said it. "I don't think you know what that words mean," I said slowly. My voice was starting to crack. "Don't say things when you don't know their significan-" I wasn't able to continue because he hugged me tightly from behind. I stood there, immobile; I was afraid it was all a dream.

"I thought I could forget you… I thought you were nothing to me… but I was wrong."

This had to be a dream. He couldn't be saying all these things in one night… _in one goddamn night!_ "Don't do this to me," I whispered. "You broke my heart once and it took me almost forever to get over you."

"_Don't leave me… I need you."_

The tears I tried to suppress were growing to be unbearable. I flung myself in his arms and began to cry: "I hate you! I hate you!" I said, hitting him on the chest. "It was so easy for you to walk away from me but why is it that I can't resist you, you stupid jerk."

**End of Flashback**

"You guys got back together again?" Sunako asked, sniffing.

I looked at Sumire and saw that she was quickly wiping her eyes. "Yes," I said gently. "For one week, I felt how it was to be the official girlfriend of Mr. Jerk. When it was time for Mr. Jerk to return, he convinced me to come with him. "

"But if you guys got together, what made you guys break up?" Tomoe asked.

"He-" I was interrupted by a worried red-haired woman.

"Sunako, Tomoe! Quick! Your roommates told me to tell you guys to return to your rooms now!" Haruka said, waving to them to follow her. "I forgot that we're not allowed to be outside of our rooms past one in the morning."

Haruka was one of those girls I felt slightly comfortable with. Her father was a wealthy real-estate proprietor, who was famous here and abroad. But unlike the other girls, she wasn't a devout worshiper of the jerk. However, she still was fanatic whenever Natsume would either hold her hand or make eye contact with her. But despite being a fanatic, she was one of the brightest girls here. Everyone adored Haruka and her intelligence.

"Wait, Mikan hasn't finished her story yet."

"It's the best part, Haruka!"

"Well," Harka said, crossing her arms. "It's up to you but if you get caught, you guys get disqualified immediately." At once, the two girls left our room. Haruka smiled at me and bowed before closing the door.

I chuckled and looked at Sumire. I was about to say something to Sumire but she looked liked if she was going to murder the door. "Sumire, are you alrig-"

"I WAS THIS CLOSE!!!"

Okay, Sumire officially scares me. I haven't seen that scary face since we were back in first year high school. "What wrong, Sumire?"

Sumire turned her scary face towards me. "I'm guessing you're not going to continue your tragic love story."

"How did you ever guess?" I replied; my voice dripped with sarcasm and I prepared to go to sleep. "I'll probably tell you some other time."

"What happened to you guys, Mikan?"

I got up from my bed and turned off all the light. The only light on was the lampshade beside my bed. After saying a few prayers, I saw Sumire still waiting for my answer. "Good night, Sumire." I said softly and turned off the lamp.

While waiting for sleep engulf me, I remembered what Sumire said about Koko.

"_Koko didn't want to get married. I thought it was alright with me but in the end… like every girl out there, I wanted to experience getting married in a church." _

Stupid Koko! Didn't he know Sumire loved him? Stupid men when it comes to love and commitment!

"Mikan… can't you tell me?"

"_We both decided to grow up,"_ I answered softly.

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**Hotaru**

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"_We both decided to grow up."_

"That's it?"

"_Yes and she didn't say anything else."_

"I see. It's okay. Just call me immediately if you find out anything else."

"_Hotaru… do you think Mikan will get mad at us if she finds out-"_

"-She won't! Just make sure you don't tell anyone, alright?" I said, turning off the phone and began to rub my temple. In an hour, I would be having a one on one interview with _Times Tokyo_ about the reality show I was producing. The Bachelor was now the most watched show every Saturday and Sunday: even if it was on the late time slot, the T.V ratings were sky high. It seemed as if the whole country was watching the show. It wasn't only successful here in Japan, but internationally too. Many cable subscribers have subscribing to _I Channel. _Currently, it was also the most talked about and searched show on the Internet and elsewhere. Fan bases were quite huge and some bets were emerging on who'd be the lucky girl. Many wondered which girl would Natsume Hyuuga marry and what was the real score between him and Mikan Sakura.

"_Ms. Imai, I'm sorry to disturb you but Mr. Yome Kokoro has been very ardent in seeing you."_

It was my secretary and she knew that she was only to buzz me when it was _really_ important. "Tell him I'll see him tomorrow-"

"_HOTARU IMAI! YOU BETTER GIVE ME PERMISSION TO ENTER YOUR GODDAMN ROOM!"_

I had a feeling that if it wasn't for the intercom, I would have spit all over my face. "Please send the barbaric man to my office Mrs. Masomoto. He might kill us with his mighty _He-Man tennis club _if we don't let him in." I said dryly. Within a mere second, the door opened. "Don't you even dare think of slamming my precious door Kokoro, if you do, I won't hesitate in billing you." I told him, watching like a hawk as he swiftly approached my desk. "What do you want?"

"_Why is she still there?"_

"Who?"

"You know who!"

"If I knew who were talking about I wouldn't be asking you stupid fool."

"Yes you would," Koko retorted back. "Now, why is she still there?!"

I leaned back to my chair and looked at Koko icily. "If you don't tell me who were talking about Koko, I'll personally hand you over to our security and forever ban you from this building," I warned him in a low tone. "I do not like to waste my time. Now, who are we talking about?"

"_Sumire," _Koko answered through clenched teeth.

"Oh her," I said innocently. "What about her?"

Koko bit his left thumb, a habit of his when his frustrated. "There are only few more girls left, why is Sumire still inside the house?" He asked, sitting down on the chair.

"How should I know," I said, shrugging. "I'm not the bachelor, Natsume is."

"Well… if Natsume was the one _really_ picking which girl is to leave, Sumire should have been gone by now."

"And what made you come with that stupid conclusion?"

"Because **A**. I've been friends with Natsume and **B**. _It's Natsume Hyuuga_," he stressed out. "_Natsume doesn't like Sumire_."

"That was high school, Koko." I said, rolling my eyes at him. "Besides, what's it to you if she's still inside the house, you guys broke up, remember? Sumire is technically not your girlfriend anymore."

"But Sumire told me the show is rig-"

"Shut it Koko!" I snapped. "I allowed Sumire to tell you the truth about the show but if you ever mention it out loud, I will have to secretly kill you."

"Why couldn't you just go and ask them?" Koko grumbled, "I bet Ruka and Mikan wouldn't hesitate to tell you."

"I do not know why I am surrounded by idiotic people." I said, sighing. "Do you think I would waste my time, money, and energy if I could have just asked them? Of course I've asked Mikan! The idiot won't talk no matter what threats or bribes I give her, she isn't confessing."

"And Ruka?"

"He won't even tell Ruka." I replied, waving my hand absent-mindedly. "Natsume and Mikan _must_ have taken a vow of _thou shall not speak."_

"So what's the next step, oh great one?" Koko asked sarcastically.

"Since Natsume is acting and being a jerk as I expected he'd be, I've decided to send in my first minion."

"Who?"

"Well," I said, picking up one of the surveys regarding the show my people did for almost a week. I had asked them to conduct a survey on what they audience think and wish to find out about the show. "85% of the T.V audience wants to see if Natsume has a jealous side."

"Oh that would be easy. Just pay someone to act like he likes Mikan."

"Stupid, it can't just be any ordinary person," I told Koko. "It has to be _someone special_ that will make him activate his jealousy."

'And how are you going to do tha-" Koko stopped talking, when he saw me evilly smiling. "Wait… you're not… _Hotaru_!"

"Yes… I am."

"No you can't! He'll kill you once he gets out. Don't you remember what Natsume did to _him_ after he saw _him_ kissing Mikan back in high school?!"

I gave an evil chuckle and ignored Koko. "Perhaps with his visit, the audience will get their question answered."

_Natsume Hyuuga, let's really see how "dead" your feelings are for Mikan._

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**To Be Continued**

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**AN:**

Finally! I've update! Yippe! The only problem is… I don't know when I'll be able to update again. When you start working, you'll understand. Hahaha.

I would also like to answer the question I've been getting nowadays if this story will be my last… _Yup, it will be._ I was planning S.I.F.Y to be the last one and forget about this… but due to certain death threats… I've decided to continue. lol.

Even though it might take me another month to update, I can assure you it will be a long chapter.

Thank you for reading this chapter and hoping you'll leave me a review.

-Krissy


	4. Unexpected Visitors

**AN: **Nope. I will and never own Gakuen Alice.

Based on the reality show called _The Bachelor_

**Settings: **Alternate Universe

No alices/powers involved

**Ages:** 20+

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**crimsoneyes44** – Thank you for helping me out.

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_Misa.D, rei141, kyria hyuuga, Cara, morgan w. anderson, lemoncherrylove, Sakura Breeze, haPpy08, Chelly18, JigokuAi, Little Cute Girl, CarJanLucy, choOchOo8, BaybiiLexii,_

_crimson-diamonds-823, keaRy anCe, Mrs Kurosaki, ghurl00, chrisca123456789, Sorrowful Princess, omen-chan, neverbetter21, Addison, enemrizza, iCOOKAYx3, Black beauty butterfly, Princess Bratinella, sakurablossoms18, imhappy15, -kradraven-, emerald325, The Purple Wox xiLynnx Wings of Fidelity, da-lil'-monster, niceladysakura, Luckystar222, angel of death143, xXaoi-to-midoriXx, haZylL...__ , __Anonymous, 'x-KiRa09-x', TheRedSin, Strawberriesn'Flames11, behindthisgirlshadow, mikanluchia728, ToS-fanatic15 smarties101, stratifiedII, luna cherFer, Youichiix33, You-chii, B, Hikari Natsume, Enilezah, MikanXNatsumefan101, Sweet Adolescence and all my silent readers…_

_**A million thanks. You guys rock!**_

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**The Bachelor**

**By:** crazygirl18

**Chapter 4:**

Unexpected Visitors

**Mikan**

"_I thought some time alone_

_was what we really needed,_

_you said this time would hurt more than it helps  
but I couldn't see that,_

_I thought it was the end of a beautiful story_

_and so I left the one I loved at home to be alone_

_and I tried to find out if this one thing is true_

_that I'm nothing without you, I know better now  
and I've had a change of heart…"_

"Why do you always stop at the good part?" I asked sleepily. "I love the melody, but when in the world are you going to come up with the chorus for that blasted song of yours?"

Sumire gave me a wary look for my unannounced intrusion, but made a short nod for me to sit next to her by the piano as she began to play the soft melody once again. "My brain won't allow me to come up with a good chorus that's why," she answered. "I have the melody for the chorus but no lyrics."

As I sat next to her, I looked at her composition and secretly admired how neat her penmanship was. Even if the music sheet was filled with notes, you can tell Sumire's composing skills had class: unlike mine, which was scrawny and small. Back then at school, no one dared to copy my answers, partially because no one could understand what I wrote and also because my answers were almost always wrong. I was always teased about my stupidity and awful penmanship.

"Sumire," I pressed one white piano key. "Do you have any idea why the stupid jerk made us wake up this early?" I asked, trying to control my temper. It was two-thirty in the morning and definitely not the usual time we got up: we would typically wake up quarter-to-seven and then head down for breakfast at 7:30am. Today, we got a _very_ early wake up call and I wasn't very happy with it. I do NOT wake up _this_ early.

"Mikan, you should consider yourself lucky," Sumire sighed after swatting my intruding hand away. "Me and the other girls have already taken a shower and had coffee. You, my dear are still in your orange polka-dot pajamas and carrying your toothbrush. Thank heavens you were able to at least tie your hair."

"You know I hate waking up this early," I whined as I tried to hug Sumire's right shoulder. "The jerk should even be thankful I came down."

"Stop acting like a baby, Mikan!" Sumire said, whacking me hard again so I would let go of her. "Let's go to the living room and wait with the others. We'll find out the reason why we had to wake up this early."

Because I was lacking energy and dead tired, _Sumire dragged me to the hellish living room._

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I felt out of place… _but I didn't care_. I looked around and saw every single girl in this huge living room was somewhat dressed up. Some even bothered to put on make up, but at least no one was wearing any formal clothing. Sumire was just wearing a purple t-shirt and shorts while the rest was either jeans or some sports wardrobe. I, on the other hand, had the perfect excuse to sit down on the big comfortable couch and cuddle with a pillow because I was still wearing my pajamas. I knew I was about to doze off if it weren't for the sudden erupt of loud squeals coming from my crazy demon possessed _friends_. _'God, aren't they used to him already?'_

I opened my eyes and was surprised to find Natsume deeply scowling, his face clearly stating he was ready to fry anyone alive. I wanted to stop my brain from coming to a conclusion that he didn't even know about this wake up call, but the sight of him with his ruffled and slightly wet hair along with his usual black shorts and white polo shirt, made him awfully cute.

Okay. I need to vomit. _Now!_

'_What the hell are you thinking, Mikan Sakura!'_ I silently screamed at myself. I hit the top of my head a few times to make my brain reboot. _'Don't panic. Just look at someone else and CONCENTRATE ON SOMEONE OTHER THAN HIM!"_

I quickly tried to revert my attention to the approaching Ruka, who was the only one dressed decent in this room. Ruka was on his cell phone, probably getting some last instructions from the _"head boss,_" because he dragged Natsume who appeared to be escaping, back to the spot where he was suppose to stand… which was a good few inches behind me.

"_I'm really going to kill your best friend." _

I didn't need to look behind me to know it was Natsume who said that. The low murmur was intended for only me to hear. I had to bite down a smile.

"Based by Natsume's scowl, I don't think he knows about this." Sumire whispered, after pinching my arms to make me stand up. "Can you please show some excitement at least?"

Rubbing the sore spot on my shoulder, I grudgingly stood up from my comfortable position. "Is this excited look good enough for you?" I asked smiling widely for her and showing my perfect white teeth.

Sumire rolled her eyes at me. "Why do I detect sarcasm in your voice?"

I was about to come up with a good retort when Ruka, our host, told us to hush. I couldn't help but smile at the way he overdressed and fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable. No normal man would dress up in a full tuxedo suit at three in the morning… _unless_ Hotaru told him to do so: now that I could understand.

"Ladies, an early good morning to you all," Ruka announced.

"Great, another hellish day is about to start." I murmured to myself.

"Ladies, I know some of you are wondering what's up with the wake up call. I know you guys need your beauty sleep-"

_I want to barf. Someone wish me out of here!_

"-But your very own Bachelor was excited to do this mini project and see the results."

All of our heads turned to Natsume. I could tell Natsume had no idea with what "_mini project and results_" Ruka was talking about. Instead he looked at Ruka with a silent message that read: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!

"Mr. Bachelor?" Ruka asked, smiling too brightly. "Aren't you excited?"

I really, really, _really_ could sense Ruka was teasing Natsume yet at the same time, he looked worried.

"Yes, I'm very excited to see these… _results,"_ Natsume gritted out with a totally fake half-smile. _"So excited."_

I'm really not sure if my hearing and understanding of facial reactions were accurate, but any normal human being would realize that by the manner which Natsume answered, he was no way near to the word "_excited."_ It was more of a cold and bored reaction to me but still the seven women I was stuck forever with, were giggling with much excitement and anticipation.

"Are you girls excited or what?!?" Ruka asked laughing.

"Yes!"

Believe me, I wasn't part of those _yes_ girls.

"Okay ladies, let me introduce to you seven men who will be crashing the house, invading your time, energy and imagination," Ruka said with a sly smile. "Come inside the Bachelor house, you lucky seven lady killers!"

Right after Ruka shouted "lady killers," the door opened and seven shirtless men save for their fitted jeans and shoes, came strutting inside the living room to the background music of _It's Raining Men_ by _Geri Halliwell_. At once, the room erupted in loud squeals and shouts while the sleepiness I was feeling earlier vanished immediately and was replaced with a rush of hotness creeping all over my face.

"Now that's what you call an Adonis' body!" Sumire said, squealing beside me. "Look at their masculine chest and abs, Mikan! _Pure hotness!_"

I wanted to shut my eyes: it was my first time ever to be surrounded by shirtless men with great bodies and looks. This never happened in my wildest dreams nor did I even imagine it to happen in real life. I wasn't prepared for this kind of stuff! _MOMMY!_

"Mikan, are you alright?" I heard Sumire ask. I was about to tell her no when she suddenly started to laugh. "Your face resembles a tomato! This is your first time to see semi-half naked men, right?"

"Shut up!" I snapped. I wasn't going to admit that the only man I had ever seen shirtless and had great abs was… _'Stop it!'_ I ordered my brain. _I wasn't going to complete that thought! _

But for some terrible reason, I had to glance at Natsume who was drinking coffee, looking amused and half-annoyed with what was happening. When he caught me looking at him, he gave me a small wink. I turned around so quickly that I was surprised my head didn't snap off. I decided it was better to concentrate on the seven male bodies. I will admit seven shirtless males made me blush madly, but I could not believe a simple wink from the jerk could make my heart flutter.

Relax Mikan. It was just a wink. Just a simple wink;_ get a grip of yourself!_

"Okay girls, settle down." Ruka said once the background music died. "I know you guys are overwhelmed with our home crashers for today." A loud "yes" answered him. "But be careful ladies, one of the reasons why these handsome studs are here, is to find out if you can stay faithful to your Bachelor and based on your reactions…" Ruka stopped speaking and grinned.

"Sorry Natsume." The girls said together.

I rolled my eyes at the girls' statement. _Don't expect me to say sorry! I have erased that word from my vocabulary when speaking with Natsume._

"No worries, your Bachelor completely understands." Ruka said smiling at the girls, but it quickly vanished when he glanced at his cue cards again. "We have one more visitor which all of you girls would be pleased to know. He especially took his time off from his busy schedule just to see this task go right. The person who will explain to you what your task will be for this week, is the 8th most powerful Bachelor, the 12th richest family in Japan and currently 4th handsome Bachelor in-"

Ruka wasn't even finished with what he was saying, the girls once again were screaming madly while I noticed Natsume was having a coughing fit. I approached Natsume so I could yet again have a reason to hit him hard on the back since the girls screams would be able to drown out Natsume's protests. No one would notice me kill their Bachelor. In fact, _no one was noticing their Bachelor was dying_.

"-Japan. Ladies, your eighth lady killer, please come in!"

"Hey jerk, are you alright?" I asked patting Natsume hard on the back. "What happened to-"

"_Hello beautiful ladies."_

I stopped hitting Natsume at once. _That voice_. It was so familiar, _to familiar_. It couldn't be. I turned around to look at _him,_ but because we were at the back and the crazy women in front were mobbing_ him_, I couldn't get a good look. "Err… you seem okay now, jerk." I absent-mindedly told Natsume and started to leave but Natsume grabbed my left wrist and held on to it tightly.

"_Don't." _

It was barely a whisper but I understood what he said. I couldn't see Natsume's facial reaction because he had his head bent down.

"_Hello, young lady."_

I turned around, ignoring the Natsume's strong hold on my harm.

"Well, aren't you going to greet me?" _he_ asked, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Hotaru's warnings filled my head as my eyes grew wide from shock because_ he_ was here.

"_If I send anyone to the Bachelor house who you know, don't you dare show anyone there you know them!"_

To go against Hotaru's orders was something no one dared to do… and I wasn't going to be the first!

"Hello… _sir_." I said stammering.

"_Sir?"_ Tsubasa Andou said, looking confused. He then glanced at the grim-looking Natsume for a few seconds and grinned. Uh-oh. _Not a good sign. _A sudden mischievous grin was not what you want from a person like Tsubasa Andou, 'cause that meant he was up to no good.

"Mr. Bachelor," Tsubasa started, but then looked at me. "You may want to let go of Ms. Sakura's wrist or perhaps you just like holding her, am I right_… cousin?"_

-

-

-

**Flashback:**

Third Year High School

**Natsume**

-

-

-

"_Natsume-stupid, why are you hiding up in that tree?"_

_I thought hiding high up in my favorite tree would allow me to get away from pestering people. If she didn't have to shout my name over and over again, I wouldn't have bothered to answer and would have been asleep by now. This Sakura tree has failed to serve its purpose. "Leave me alone idiot. Can't you see I'm trying to get away from annoying people like you?"_

"_Then why did you even come tonight?" she retorted._

"_Because idiot, my stupid cousin forced my mother to order me to come here. You know I detest events like this," I answered in a bored tone. I still kept my eyes shut, which was pissing her off because she knew I wasn't taking her appearance seriously. I didn't ask her to look for me, so she could be pissed at me as much as she wanted. It wasn't my fault._

"_Well what happened to the superhuman jerk?"_

_I gave a small chuckle. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you trying to pick a fight, idiot?"_

"_No stupid. It's just…"_

_Silence._

_I hate it when she didn't finish her sentence. Even if she always spoke nonsense, I would always painfully listen to her… for reasons I don't even want to know why. "You're not thinking of leaving me hanging with your asinine little sigh, are you?" I asked gruffly._

"_I know you hate to go to this kind of gatherings and you never do," she sighed again. "I'm just surprised you're here, just like everybody else. What made you come here tonight, Natsume?"_

_Crap. I was going to have to answer her stupid question whether I liked it or not. "Like I said idiot, my mother forced me to because my dear cousin Tsubasa is the President of the Student Council this year and I'm supposed to support him. And by coming to this stinking event, my mother will be happy because she thinks I'm starting to… socialize. It's killing two birds with one stone. Now you know the reason why I'm here, can you leave me alone and go back to your idiotic planet?"_

_As usual, I was expecting a normal reaction where the girl reprimands me for my rudeness. Instead, I get an unusual reaction from the most unusual girl I've ever met: a giggle. _

_Mikan Sakura giggles to my rude statements. She is the weirdest person I ever met. _

"_You're weird, Natsume. You're going to regret the day I stop looking for you jerk," she said chuckling. "I'm coming back to check on you whether you like it or not. So don't you dare hide and leave without telling me. Anyways, I need to go back. Tsubasa's must be looking for me."_

"_Hey idiot!" _

"_Yeah, stupid?" _

"_What the hell were you thinking of accepting that pervert cousin of mine to be his date for this high school dance?"_

"_Your cousin isn't a pervert unlike you-"_

"_Hey, it isn't my fault you freely show your underwear to me. I would rather be permanently blind, then see your underwear."_

"_And people ask why I don't like you."_

"_You'll see how perverted he is tonight, idiot."_

"_Good night, jerk."_

_I waited for a good few minutes before I opened my eyes and came down from the tree. I then took a few deep breaths. I couldn't help it. The moment Mikan found me, my anger disappeared but when she left and told me she was going back to the party, my anger once again flared up. I did the only rational thing I could think of. I hit the tree… as hard as I could._

_It was a few minutes later I noticed my knuckles were bleeding. I welcomed the pain that was coming from my hand because it helped me think about that instead of Mikan and her date. _

"_You know, it would help if you just told Mikan you came here because you found out she was going out with Tsubasa, her ultimate crush." I turned around to find my best friend Ruka on the other side of the huge tree, quietly petting his furry white rabbit. "And also why you didn't want to look at her, namely how pretty she looked in her pale yellow dress tonight, making you want to kill any other guys who look at Mikan… which also includes your cousin… thus the reason for your escape to here." _

"_Shut up, Ruka."_

_I wasn't going to ever admit that the only reason I was here at this stupid dance, wearing these formal clothes was because of her. When she had burst into the classroom two days ago and announced happily to the whole class that Tsubasa had asked her to prom, something inside me wanted to go up to my cousin and burn him alive… and I didn't welcome this new feeling. _

_I didn't even want to know the name of the strange feeling that made me want to pummel any guy in sight._

"_Oh also, I don't remember anything about your mother forcing you to go… in fact hasn't she been staying in Korea for almost three months now?"_

"_Shut up!"_

**End of flashback**

-

-

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**Tsubasa**

-

-

-

"_Do what you have to do. I don't care. For the sake of making my T.V audience happy and my ratings soar sky high, I want to see Natsume jealous."- _Hotaru calmly explaining her motives to Tsubasa Andou, after being kidnapped and briefed why he was kidnapped.

-

-

-

Truthfully, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be part of the evil queen's evil plans. Hotaru Imai didn't know the word '_mercy'_ and understand _human feelings_. If she thought it would help boost her company and earn her oodles of money, she would forsake anything just to be successful.

I heard about what my cousin was doing and how everyone was excited about the reality show but I didn't care nor paid attention to it because I was busy making sure that _Andou Chemicals Inc_. was expanding not only across Asia but worldwide. I had just arrived in Paris and was on my way to meet Misaki for a very important date when suddenly out of nowhere, I was bombarded by the goons of Hotaru and learned I was on my way to her _exclusive_ rest house.

It is said that if you were invited to Hotaru Imai's house, it was a great honor. For me, it was a great horror.

I hadn't even sat down on her couch, when Lucifer was already discussing how much debt the Andou's had from other ventures that failed, pictures that she still had from my high school days which could ruin my reputation if it got to the paparazzi, and then asked or more accurately, threatened, me if I could help her out.

Was there anyone in this world who had the guts to tell Hotaru **"NO"**?

So seeing that Hotaru blackmailed me into helping her out, I was being boarded onto Imai's private airplane and headed for Japan.

While on the plane and cursing Hotaru for including me in her "plan", I felt slightly worried about seeing and staying with Natsume for a week under the same roof. He was my cousin because my dad was the half-brother of Natsume's mother. Though we always see each other on family occasions or holidays, Natsume and I never got along; but there was always unspoken respect between us even if we vocally denied it. But when I started to date Mikan Sakura, our relationship became even sourer. It became even more acidic when I did something Natsume clearly thought was a betrayal of the _cousin code, _but to this very day, I still have no clue what I did wrong. If it wasn't for Natsume's mom, I would have kicked Natsume's butt a long time ago… even if I was older than him by a year. But after Natsume graduated from college, we became civil which I found strange. Sometimes, I would try to pick a fight with him but he wouldn't budge. Natsume was civil yet you could feel the coldness in his tone.

And now here I was, grinning at a tomato red face Mikan while she led me to the dinning room to have tea with her, I could feel a deadly death glare burning on my back and I didn't have to guess who it was.

After pointing out to Natsume he was still holding on to her arm, he quickly let go of her and said something stupid that gave Mikan the right to slap him across the face. I immediately took the other free hand of Mikan before she _did_ slap Natsume and gently placed a kiss on top of her hand.

"_I'm glad to finally meet the famous Mikan Sakura who I hear is slowly capturing the other hearts of other men outside this house," I huskily told Mikan._

The girls screamed in delight; Sumire looked as if she wanted to laugh; and Natsume wanted to kill me.

_My death was imminent._

-

-

-

**Flashback**

Third Year High School

**Mikan**

-

-

-

"_Did you find him?"_

_I looked up at my date. Every girl… except Hotaru of course, wanted to go on a date with the heartthrob and respectable Tsubasa Andou. All the girls sighed at how Tsubasa was friends with everyone. The simple smile and laugh was enough for any high school girl to ascend to the heavens. _

_But while I was dancing in the arms of my prince, wearing the perfect black tuxedo with his perfect black hair combed just the way I liked it, looking at me as if I was the only girl in the room… I felt nothing._

_Why?_

"_Yeah, I found the old grouch," I replied smiling at Tsubasa, hoping he wouldn't notice I was distracted. Tsubasa smiled back at me and gently twirled me around across the dance floor. _

"_See, you do know how to dance, Mikan." Tsubasa grinned. "I'm lucky that a beautiful second year student like you has agreed to become my date tonight."_

_I playfully slapped him on his shoulder. "How could I resist you Tsubasa-senpai? It's every girl's dream to be your date." I replied softly, looking straight at the floor while hoping he wouldn't notice my cheeks turning red. "I was surprised you even asked me out."_

"_Why wouldn't I ask out the most beautiful and friendliest girl in the whole second year class, Mikan? I'm surprised to find out no one has attempted to court you yet."_

"_They're some… but your cousin seems to always inform my potential suitors about all of the bad traits I have and the horrors that could happen if I became their girlfriend," I answered in a bitter tone. "If that stupid Natsume Hyuuga wasn't ever my elementary school classmate, I'm sure I would be enjoying my entire school life here in this prestigious school."_

_My answer seemed to amuse Tsubasa even more because he laughed even harder this time. "Mikan, Mikan, Mikan. I wonder what the Academy be like if you didn't study here."_

"_Quiet, perhaps? Besides, the only reason why I was accepted here is because of Hotaru's mom. She's basically paying my whole tuition which is why I'm doing my best to get good grades and not fail in any subjects."_

"_Oh yeah, I forgot you told me that your mom and Hotaru's mom were also best friends. Then I do have a debt to your best friend's mother. Hotaru's mother was right to enroll you here."_

"_And why is that?" I drawled out. "I have a cold best friend and an annoying lifetime high school partner."_

_Tsubasa didn't answer me right away; instead he quietly led me out to the school gardens and made me sit down on a nearby bench. Everything was perfect. The moon was serene and the sky was filled with twinkling stars. The gentle breeze accentuated the scent of the surrounding flowers. It was the perfect setting for my soon-to-happen-kiss._

"_Are you cold?" Tsubasa asked, wrapping his coat around me._

"_Not anymore," I answered after a few minutes. Even the smell of Tsubasa's cologne from the coat was intoxicating. I wished he would allow me to keep it as a souvenir. "Why did you bring me out here?"_

"_Because the scenery out here seems more romantic than inside, don't you like it out here?"_

_I was screaming "YES!!" in my mind but I had to act demure in front of him. "CertainlytheweatherouthereismuchcozyandIhateitwhenpeoplestareatusasiftheyhavenothinggoodtostareat."_

"_Huh, can you repeat that a little much slower?" Tsubasa chuckled. "You seem nervous."_

"_Nervous? Me? Of course not!" But the moment when Tsubasa moved over to sit next to me, taking my right hand into his, kissing the top of it, my whole brain shut down and my heart felt as if it was ready to jump out. This may be what was considered a "heart attack". _

"_Wait a minute, I didn't answer your question awhile ago, didn't I?"_

"_N…N…No." I stammered, because he brushed away a few stray hairs of mine that must have been dangling without my knowledge. _

"_Mikan, do you know how glad I am you came to this school and messed up my and Natsume's life. If it weren't for you, I would never have thought Natsume had any emotions at all. Hotaru may be a cold person, but she only sees you as her best friend. If you think everyone wants to be my friend, heck, you don't even notice that you know everyone in the high school department… and most importantly, if it weren't for you… I would never have noticed…"_

_Tsubasa never finished his sentence, trailing off as he was about to kiss me. This is it! This is the moment I'd been waiting for ever since I had a crush on him in Grade 7. I was finally going to experience my… second real kiss! A kiss from Tsubasa-senpai! _

_I closed my eyes and waited for our lips to meet and when it did… and when the kiss finally happened, my dream kiss… I couldn't help but compare it to my first kiss. This kiss was a semi-mature kiss while my first kiss was more sudden and out-of-the-blue. I remember feeling a thunderous jolt all over my body… and it was less than 2 to 3 seconds! With Tsubasa it had probably already been 10 seconds and there was still no electricity swarming my body._

_What was so different with Natsume's kiss? _

**End of flashback**

-

-

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**Natsume**

-

-

-

If looks could kill, I would have killed a thousand people from the day I met Mikan. I thought if I was given a chance to have the freedom to murder someone and get away with it, Hotaru Imai would be the first person on top of my list but now that Tsubasa, _my dear cousin_, was here, likely because of Hotaru's malevolent plans, I decided to demote her to the number two spot and make Tsubasa take the golden number one. He needed to be executed right now at this very second for… for…

_Damn it! 'Natsume Hyuuga, you better listen to me, your inner-conscience! You are definitely angry at Tsubasa's presence because you know he's going to mock you on live television and not because your jeal-' _

"I envy you cousin," Tsubasa said with a smirk. "You started with 25 beautiful ladies and only one girl is going to be your wife. You are indeed the luckiest man on earth."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment, _cousin_." I gritted out. "Why are you here? Why in the hell are we in the ballroom area with an Ipod and speakers in the middle of the dance floor?" After a "hearty" breakfast with the 8 remaining girls and party crashing people, Tsubasa announced he would explain the reason why he would be staying here for a goddamn week. While eating breakfast, I noticed two things. First, I realized why Ruka was keeping a safe distance away from me because he knew I was accusing him of betrayal. And the second was, I saw how comfortable Mikan was, smiling sweetly at Tsubasa, as well as laughing at tales my cousin was telling the girls.

I should be overjoyed with Tsubasa's presence because it took away the attention the demon-possessed women had for me. All their attention was focused on Tsubasa. None of the girls offered me coffee or anything to drink; they were completely entranced by the charm of my cousin. Except I didn't like how delighted Mikan was… not one tiny bit… and I didn't want to find out why.

"Excuse me ladies," Tsubasa charmingly called out. The loud girlish chatter halted at once. "Ladies, I am deeply thankful that you have allowed me to stay here."

"Of course, Tsubasa-senpai!" the girls said in giggling harmony.

"_Of course, Tsubasa-senpai_," I mimicked in a tone which I could only hear.

"Now, the reason why I am here is because," I watched Tsubasa walk towards the Ipod, while acknowledging his flock of Hercules, who were all now wearing _T-shirts _to cover their manly chests, to stand beside him in a straight line. "Girls, carrying the family name Hyuuga is not an easy task. You must at all times do whatever it takes not to tarnish the family name. If you become the wife of the heir of a Hyuuga, then you will be watched like a hawk in the public eye. People can condemn you with one simple mistake, which is why once in public, you must always act with grace, charm, perfect poise, elegance and most importantly, be a good dancer." Tsubasa announced with a huge grin. "Am I right cousin?"

I barely nodded as a response. Even though I despised Tsubasa at the very second, what he said was true. I was fortunate to act as how I pleased is because despite my cold demeanor, I was able to run the company successfully and with every risk I took on, I'd never failed in any endeavor… _except for one_.

"So today," Tsubasa started to play a soft melody. "I have brought seven men who will be your partner and teach you the proper way of ballroom dancing. And then I will dance with every girl and will grade them, whosoever dances the best, will get the chance to go on a date with your very own Bachelor!"

The annoying loud squeals erupted once again, which was why no one heard my objection. I didn't sign any agreement, which consented to me dancing! I headed towards Ruka to protest this, but he must have predicted my reaction because he silently handed me a faxed _Letter of Agreement_ I signed with two highlighted portions, which I quickly scanned.

"_...I also hereby do agree to participate in any events or surprise events the reality show, The Bachelor, is asking for me to do. This includes, socializing with the candidates, limiting angry outburst, __**dancing**__, going on dates, showing courtesy on dates…"_

I didn't finish the sentence because I jumped right to the second highlighted portion.

"_If the rules are not honorably abided then Imai Inc. will take action and will disregard __**the verbal agreement**__ Ms. Hotaru Imai and Mr. Natsume Hyuuga discussed."_

Damn! I've sold my soul to the devil.

"I swear I didn't know anything about this until yesterday, Natsume," Ruka told me in a quiet voice. "I wanted to tell you… but…"

"I KNOW!" I said through my clenching teeth. "We've all signed a contract which will make us all doomed if we do not follow it." I waved my hands at Ruka, meaning for him to forget about it. I headed towards the left side of the room because that was the only place which had one available chair and which was far from the noisy girls. _"You're dead,"_ I told Tsubasa as I passed by him. I didn't have to look back to see if he heard me because I knew he did.

"Okay now for your partners," Tsubasa called out while clapping his hands. "I want you to write your name in a piece of paper and the seven hot boys over here-"

Loud squealing sound as answer.

"-including me, will pick the name of our partner." I silently watched Tsubasa hand Sumire a small hat, where the girls dropped their paper slips in. After a few minutes, the girls excitedly, except Mikan and Sumire, waited for their names to be called out.

"As semi-host to this lovely small exercise," Tsubasa said with a mischievous smile, "I shall draw the first name." He placed his hand inside the small hat and took out a small piece of paper. "The person who I would have the greatest honor to dance with… please do not step on my feet," he playfully winked at them and then showed the girls who he picked: "She is none other than… Mikan Sakura!"

_WHAT!!! _As I revolted inside, everyone was telling Mikan how lucky she was. It was impossible! Out of eight candidates, eight names, eight freaking people, Tsubasa picked Mikan's name!

"Is there something wrong, cousin?"

Of all the times for Tsubasa to notice my violent reaction, it had to be now. It must have satisfied him when I finally jolted out from my chair when he called out Mikan's name. "Nothing. I just wanted to say good luck to your toes. Ms. Sakura has a habit of stepping on feet because of her humongous feet." I murmured.

After every girl found their partner, one by one, they started dancing. Most of the girls were stumbling and missing steps because of how the Hercules men were looking at them. This test I understood, it was a message for me to see how this girls who _could be my future wife_ act in the presence of another man. People can see through other people when they dance, because of the emotions they give away to their partner.

Tsubasa decided that _they_ were going to be the last person to dance. When it was Sumire turn, she danced beautifully but I noticed that she was blushing really hard from whatever Hercules number 5 was telling her. I wonder what Koko's reaction would be if he saw her dancing with a more handsome dude than him. Once it was finally time the "last couple" to dance, Tsubasa led a chuckling Mikan to the middle of the dance floor and left her to pick the song they were going to dance.

"For a lovely lady like Ms. Sakura," my cousin announced with a grin. "I think this is the perfect song to dance too."

I dragged my eyes away from them because I didn't need to remember how good they were as _dancing partners_. But when I suddenly heard the familiar tune play, I once again jolted out of my chair.

_If I'm not in love with you  
What is this I'm going through  
Tonight_

I can pretend that nothing is wrong. I can accept the fact that my pervert cousin was here and I couldn't do anything about it. I can pretend that it's okay for Mikan to dance with my perverted cousin but my pride will not accept _them_ dancing to _that _dance!

_  
And if my heart is lying then  
What should I believe in  
Why do I go crazy  
Every time I think about you, baby  
Why else do I want you like I do  
If I'm not in love with you_

I was amazed at my teeth because they didn't break from the pressure I was putting on them. Even though my pride made me want to drive my two fists into Tsubasa's stomach_,_ good manners superceded my needs… and of course if my mom found out I punched my cousin, she'd be furious as hell. But when I saw Tsubasa lightly kiss Mikan's hand again, _good manners flew out the window_. I clenched my right fist and slowly walked towards them. _'I can't believe that stupid idiot would actually dance to that mu-'_

"Ummm… Tsubasa-senpai, would you mind changing the song?" Mikan smiled apologetically and then leaned in to murmur something in his ears. My cousin smiled and nodded. He then changed the music to old _Rod Stewart's Have I Told You Lately That I Love You. _

Why in the hell did she change the music? Why didn't she just dance with my stupid cousin? _What the hell did the idiot tell him! _

_Have I told you lately that I love you  
Have I told you there's no one else above you  
Fill my heart with gladness  
Take away all my sadness  
Ease my troubles that's what you do_

Mikan danced flawlessly. Even if she was the only person who was wearing pajamas, anyone could tell she was a great dancer. She knew the right times to turn and how to make her partner look good, because she made everyone believe my cousin was the only person here.

_Ease my troubles that's what you do  
Take away all my sadness  
Fill my life with gladness  
Ease my troubles that's what you do_

When the girls clapped loudly and squealed, it was because Tsubasa let Mikan finish her last twirl and end it with him bending her backward and then lifting her up slowly. "So who am I going to dance with, _cousin_?" I asked loudly after seeing him wipe a tear from Mikan's eyes. "_You are such an expert in dancing_: I just know you already picked the perfect girl for me to dance with," I commented sarcastically.

"Well not exactly," Tsubasa said slowly and then grinned widely. "I know all these girls are dying to wonder how it feels to be in your arms… so for the sake of these poor young girls' curiosities, our Bachelor will give each of you one minute to dance in his arms!" He exclaimed.

"_WHAT!!!"_ I shouted, but no one heard me because all of the girls went wild with their loud screams at the same time. I saw from the corner of my eye that Ruka was jumping while raising the Agreement form. _Damn it!_

So with my rotten luck, I danced for six minutes with all the girls who wanted to murder my feet, in six different cheesy songs. None of the girls knew how to dance and I knew I was never going to walk properly again.

When I danced with Sumire, it was different. Back in the Academy, I would ignore her because she was the second person who would talk nonsense, _while the first was Mikan_. But as I danced with her, I knew she had changed. Sumire was different. I found myself always somewhat smiling at the conversation and enjoying it.

"Be careful Hyuuga," Sumire whispered as I twirled her around. "You may not like the sight of your feet later on."

I couldn't help but grin. "You're a good dancer, Ms. Shouda."

"You jest, Hyuuga. Bet those expensive dancing classes we took at the Academy is finally taking effect," she chuckled after mocking a curtsy at me.

"Well then, I must say I was very impressed with your dance, Ms. Shouda." Tsubasa exclaimed after clapping loudly. "Ladies, you should follow Ms. Shouda's example. Have fun dancing. Enjoy your dance with Natsume. _My cousin isn't going to bite you_."

Everyone gave a polite laugh while I glared at him. Tsubasa Andou had no right to interfere with my life! I wasn't going to take this ridicules scheme much longer. I socialized and danced. _Imai can slap me with any agreement form, but I had enough for one early morning_. "Excuse me, ladies but-" I stopped talking because I caught the little idiot trying to escape the ballroom. She was about to open the door when she caught me glancing at her._ 'The nerve of that woman! She thinks I want to dance with her? She has no RIGHT to run away! If there is anyone who should be leaving this room, it should be ME!' _

"Ms. Sakura," I shouted out. _"Care to dance?"_

-

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**Mikan**

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-

"_Care to dance?"_

I was about to reach the door when the stupid jerk had to do something stupid… _like usual._

"_This may be your last chance to be held by someone like me or do you wish to escape, Ms. Sakura_?" Natsume asked lazily.

Can I kill Natsume now? "Of course not, _Mr. Hyuuga_, I'm so _excited_ to dance with you." I walked towards him and kept my chin up. If he wanted to bicker with me, I wasn't going to back down from the challenge, but when I neared him, I wanted to run away. The days I spent inside this house, we would constantly bicker and throw insults, which I never knew I could say out loud but there was one thing we both never tried to do. Come this _close_ together. "Ts…Ts…Tsubasa-senpai," my voice quavered. "Can you please choose a song-"

"-don't ask Tsubasa-"

"-for us to dance to?"

"-to pick the song."

It was too late for me to understand what Natsume said because when I gave Tsubasa the order, it was if Tsubasa was waiting for me to give him that very instruction. "_Damn it,"_ I heard Natsume groan.

"I've played every single song in this Ipod of mine… except for one," Tsubasa innocently announced.

"Shit!" I muttered when the music started playing.

"Shit indeed," Natsume sneered.

_  
And if my heart is lying then  
What should I believe in  
Why do I go crazy  
_

"Hey cousin," Tsubasa shouted. "Dance with Ms. Sakura. She's a great dance partner!"

_This is the first time in my life I wanted to strangle Tsubasa-senpai. _I took a deep breath and decided to break the ice between us with a rude retort. "Why won't we just do this-"

"-Anyways, who cares?" Natsume grumbled, as he caught my two hands and placed them where they were supposed to be. "It's just a stupid song."

I bit my lip tightly because I was about to tell him it wasn't stupid… _since it was the first song we danced to as a couple_. "Yeah, it sure is stupid," I whispered back as we started to dance.

_If its just infatuation then  
Why is my heart aching  
To hold you forever  
Give a part of me I thought Id never  
Give again to someone I could lose  
If I'm not in love with you_

I don't know how I did it, but I was able to control my tears. I had no idea why Natsume's remarks affected me this much. But for a tiny moment, I couldn't help but notice, how much I missed being in his strong arms.

_If I'm not in love with you  
What is this I'm going through  
Tonight_

_And if my heart is lying then  
What should I believe in  
Why do I go crazy  
Every time I think about you, baby  
Why else do I want you like I do  
If I'm not in love with you_

When the music stopped, I let go of Natsume and turned to the girls who would be throwing me compliments or insults about dancing with him. No one clapped and no one squealed. But I saw in every girl's eyes were overflowing with tears.

I glanced at Tsubasa who had a strange look on his face. "Mikan… I-"

"_-I hate you_,_"_ I told him with a sad smile."I told you why, but you still did it." I was about to leave when suddenly someone started to clap.

"_That's one of the best dance I've ever seen in my life. You should have told me she was one of the contestants, Natsume."_

It was a woman with beautiful, long wavy brown hair, dressed in black fitted jeans and an orange shirt that said "I'm taken". She looked like a model out of a famous fashion magazine. She was more beautiful than any of the girls who were selected for the show.

The girls started whispering to each other which I could hear a "_Is that who I think it is?"_ and a _"Why is she here?" _and even Tsubasa was aghast wondering aloud, _"I thought Hotaru hated her?_"

_Who the hell was she?_

Natsume, on the other hand, had a stunned look on his face. When he must have gotten over his shock, Tsubasa went over to his side. "I can take care of this." I heard Natsume mutter, "Just stay beside Mikan."

Okay, I'm completely confused. _What's going on?_

"Why are you here?" Natsume asked.

The girl chuckled. "Why? I'm not allowed to be here?"

I had a feeling I was the only person in this room who had no clue who this girl was.

"Hey Mikan, are you alright?" I heard Sumire ask me in a low voice.

"Why shouldn't I be?"

Sumire looked offended I even asked her that question. "What?"

"Mikan, _it's her_."

"Who's 'her'?"

I saw Sumire's eyes dilated. "You mean you don't know?"

"I don't know what!?" I grew a little impatient. "Who is sh-"

"So this is the girl who broke your heart Natsume," the girl continued. "_And the reason why you didn't want to marry me."_

-

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**Yuu**

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"_I can finally go to sleep."_ I said with a sigh as I snuggled my comfortable pillows. After a long day of constantly making sure the cameras inside the Bachelor's house were always working and undetectable, I was glad to be home. I was really amazed on how well the program was doing. The ratings were soaring high and advertisers kept on trying to outbid other advertisers just to place their own commercials or to place their own products inside the house. A coffee brand the contestants were drinking had their sales sky-rocket just after a few days Hotaru agreed to use their coffee products.

When Hotaru offered me chief-editor and to especially make _sure specific_ scenes weren't shown on air, I thought it would be easy. When Hotaru Imai offers you a job and salary, which is so hard to refuse, she's going to make sure you're _worth_ her money.

Hotaru specifically said, some scenes of Mikan and Natsume could not be shown, in fear people would think this show was _rigged_. Hotaru could not afford to let anyone know she knew Mikan. With my expertise in sound and editing, I was able to lead the televiewers that Sumire and some of the girls had a chance with the Bachelor. Some questioned Mikan's appearance on the show and wondered why she hasn't been booted out yet but whenever Natsume lets go of a contestant, his reasons was always correct. But because of last week's episode, everyone was curious with _who broke Ms. Sakura's heart._

I had instructed my best team to keep a close watch with everything. After making sure I caught Tsubasa's entrance, I told my team I was going to head home to rest my eyes for a bit since I hadn't had a good decent sleep in two days. I'd be back for when we went live for Natsume to vote off one of the girls. Live telecast is always stressful and exhausting.

I was about fall into a deep sleep when the emergency phone rang. Every personnel working for Hotaru always kept two phones. One was for the regular calls and the other one was for EMERGENCY which only Hotaru calls.

I quickly grabbed the phone and looked at who was calling… _it was from my production team._ "What!" I snapped. "Carlos, I told you to never call this line if it isn't an emergency. I thought it was Hota-"

"_-Mr. Yuu,"_ Carlos, my assistant, cut in. _"I'm sorry, but we have an emergency."_

"Then what-"

"_-Someone has tapped into our line and is streaming this week's episode! We don't know how long but we can't shut them down! Some forums are talking about what's the real score between Ms. Sakura and Mr. Hyuuga."_

"Oh my god, you can't-"

"_-They are now curious with Ms. Sakura's background."_

All I wanted was a few hours of sleep and this is what I get… a disastrous nightmare. "Does Hotaru know about it?"

"_No… not yet. Sir, that isn't the end of it."_

"There's more?"

"_Sir… I don't know how this happened but the ex-fiancée of Mr. Hyuuga… is in the Bachelor house."_

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**To be continued **

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**AN: **

Please do not crucify me! Haha.

It's been a busy year and I just started working in a call center, so please bear with my long absence.

I'm not going to say when my next update is but I can say that this story won't be more than ten chapters.

Please leave me a review. I would like to hear what you think about this chapter.

Loads of hugs and advance thank you's!

**~Krissy**


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